Mating snakes wreck Cairns clubroom ceiling

Every now and then something pops up in a newspaper that I just can’t resist passing on, even if it has little or no relevance to the World of the Written Word. Such an item is the attention-grabbing headline about destructive amorous serpents.

Apparently, in Cairns, Australia, there is a female python in heat. (That snakes go into heat was news for me, too.) She has taken refuge in the roof of the Hekili Outrigger Canoe Club at Yorkey’s Knob, and has been joined by no less than six suitors, who are fighting each other for her attentions.

These are no small snakes. They measure at least 3.5 metres (Americans, read “yards”), and weigh up to 50 kilos (over 100 pounds). Indeed, the club members have named the female “Nagini,” after the giant snake in the Harry Potter books.

And their antics are bringing down the roof.

Lord alone knows what will happen when Nagini gives birth, or lays eggs, or whatever female scrub pythons do. Maybe the walls will come down.