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Meet Julia Squeezer and Co
10/04/2003 00:49 - (SA)
Petro Bosman, Die Burger
Cape Town - Thieves would do well to steer clear of the house of Dave D'aguiar, chairperson of the Plattekloof homeowners' association, unless they want to meet Julia Squeezer, a 10-year-old Burmese python.
Julia is not part of a one-woman security force though. D'aguiar has two other Burmese pythons, Snakespeare and Jack the Gripper, and judging by their names, these are not fellows to toy with.
To give the collection a South African flavour, there are also two puff-adders, Puff Daddy and Puff Mommy.
The snakes are additional to other security measures at D'aguiar's house such as an alarm and armed response. "As chairperson of the homeowners' association, I want to encourage everyone to tighten security at their homes.
"I am not suggesting that everyone goes out to buy a snake - a good alarm system with armed response should do the trick."
Julia is his favourite guard-snake. Not only is she the tamest of his snakes - she has only bitten him twice - but her grandfather was also the famous Oupa, Glenda Kemp's dancing partner.
Julia is 4m long and weighs nearly 20kg. D'aguiar says she eats about 15 rats a day, but can then survive without food for about six weeks, especially in winter.
He says she likes to watch television, especially the Discovery Channel and, like most females, loves to bask in the sun.
But Julia is a lady with a mind of her own and has
slithered away from home twice.
The first time she escaped from D'aguiar's factory and was missing for three weeks. Eventually, he became suspicious that she was still in the factory.
His suspicions were confirmed when he found her tracks in wood shavings he sprinkled on the ground.
On the other occasion, she hid under the dashboard of a car for two days.
None of the service stations in the area wanted to remove the dashboard to set her free, D'aguiar says, and they eventually had to lure her out with a juicy white rat.
- Die Burger
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