BALIK PULAU: Stretching 7m, a female python named Cik Kiah displays intricate batik pattern on her 220kg body.
Her owner Mohd Redzuan Abdullah Zawawi, 36, claimed she is the largest pet python in Asia from the Malayopython reticulatus or reticulated python species.
"Out of my interest and love for this exotic animal, I have rented a house for all the six pythons under my care to live," Mohd Redzuan told Bernama during a visit to his snake house recently.
The father of two, whose family members are also animal lovers, claimed that a python is a tame reptile which is easy to manage and keep.
"I was asked to hold a snake show before, but I could not do so because I do not have a licence to perform in public," said the former civil servant, who has a permit from the Wildlife and National Parks Department to keep snakes as pets.
Mohd Redzuan, from Kota Baru, Kelantan, said he found Cik Kiah when she was small on a road heading towards Teluk Bahang 16 years ago.
"I decided to keep it as my pet. Cik Kiah was only the size of two or three of my fingers. She is my first pet snake," he said, adding he now spends about RM700 to RM800 a month to feed his pythons.
"Cik Kiah eats about 20 to 25 chickens per month," he added.
Mohd Redzuan said he taught everything he knew about snakes to his eldest child aged 12, who is also interested in reptiles. - BERNAMA