Massive snake’s swollen gut ignites debate over what it just swallowed in Australia

A large snake captured by a seasoned Australian snake catcher has ignited wild debate on social media after photos showed its belly extremely swollen.

The photos were shared by Hervey Bay Snake Catchers, which speculated the 10-foot carpet python had clearly eaten something larger than the average rodent.

“Dunno what this snake has eaten but it’s got to be a big cat or a small dog!” the company posted on social media.

“The neighbors apparently have a small ‘yappy’ dog. So if they don’t hear it again, this will be why. It looks too big to be a possum, bat or bird,” the company said. “Unless it ate an osprey or small eagle but I highly doubt it took a raptor. Judging by the size of it, our guess is that it nabbed a cat that was out wandering last night but even then it would be a massive cat.”

The snake was captured and removed from property in Dundowran Beach on the east coast of Queensland. It was released back into the wild, with great care taken to prevent it from regurgitating its meal, the company said.

Carpet pythons are nonvenomous predators that grow to a maximum size of around 10 feet in Australia, so the snake was definitely on the larger end of the spectrum.

“We’re not exactly going to sit there and wait for it to poo to take a DNA sample so we’ll have to settle for speculation at this point,” the company said.

“The reason why I believe it ate a cat or dog (or at least a mammal) is because I could feel four limbs. When they eat birds, you can feel he wings and talons and it’s always lumpy. ... The only other plausible animal we can think of would be a fox. ”

The company invited commenters to offer ideas, resulting in guesses including a “massive” rabbit, a large turkey and a small wallaby, a member of the kangaroo family.

Still others in Dundowran Beach are worried and looking for their pets.

“Where about in Dundowran Beach? I’m missing a cat,” one commenter posted.

“That’s probably what the little dog has been yapping about,” another said.

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