Mohd Redzuan with his pet batik python. — Bernama photo
BALIK PULAU: Her intricate Batik pattern fascinates onlookers and when she slithers, her slender body of 220 kilogrammes stretches to seven metres long.
Her name is Cik Kiah, a female python belonging to Mohd Redzuan Abdullah Zawawi, 36, who prides himself on what he claims to be the largest pet python in Asia.
Cik Kiah, of the Malayopython reticulatus or reticulated python species, has also become an attraction to the locals here.
“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 for performing,” said the former civil servant, who has a permit from the Wildlife and National Parks Department to keep snakes as pets.
Mohd Redzuan, who hails from Kota Bharu, Kelantan, said he found Cik Kiah as a snakelet on a road heading towards Teluk Bahang 16 years ago.
Mohd Redzuan and his son Harith play with ‘Cik Kiah’. — Bernama photo
“I decided to take the baby snake and keep it as my pet. Cik Kiah was small back then, about the size of two or three of my fingers. She is my first pet snake,” he said.
According to Mohd Redzuan, his oldest child shows the same passion for snakes, and as such he is teaching his 12-year-old son all he knows about the reptile.
He spends about RM700 to RM800 monthly to feed his pythons.
“Cik Kiah eats about 20 to 25 chickens per month,” he added. — Bernama