澳洲干旱 蟒蛇鉆進馬桶尋水

Thirsty snakes are moving into north Queensland homes with two pythons recently found in toilets.
口渴難耐的蟒蛇正溜進澳大利亞昆士蘭（Queensland）北部的民宅。近日，先后有兩條蟒蛇在當地民宅的馬桶里出現。

Snake catcher Elliot Budd spent 15 minutes removing a 2.4-metre carpet python from a Townsville U-bend on the weekend, a week after he released a three-metre beauty found coiled in a toilet by tradesmen.
上周末，捕蛇手埃利奧特?巴德（Elliot Budd）花了15分鐘，將一條2.4米長的地毯蟒從湯斯維爾（Townsville）的一個馬桶U型管中移出。一周之前，他剛剛移出了另一條3米長的蟒蛇，技工發現它時它在馬桶里盤成了一圈。

All but the second snake's head and 10cm of its body was inside the toilet piping.
第二條蛇除了頭部和10厘米的身體露了出來，其余部分都在廁所的管道里。

Budd could not unbolt the toilet and said tugging at the creature would have caused it injury.
巴德無法打開馬桶的閥門，他說，把蛇硬拉出來可能會令它受傷。

"Its head was just sitting there looking right at you," he said.
他說：“它的頭就定在那兒直直地看著你。”

"After about 15 minutes of just holding him, he just came out by himself."
“我托著它大概15分鐘后，它就自己爬出來了?！?/span>

Budd said he had never pulled a snake from a toilet before the first Townsville incident but he's recently removed snakes from pools, kitchens, offices and gardens.
巴德說，在湯斯維爾的第一宗案例出現之前，他從沒從馬桶里把蛇拉出來過。但最近，他在池塘、廚房、辦公室和花園都捉過蛇。

JamesCook Universityreptile expert Professor Lin Schwarzkopf said it wasn't usual for snakes to go into toilets.
詹姆士庫克大學（James Cook University）的爬行動物專家林?施瓦茨科夫（Lin Schwarzkopf）教授表示，蛇爬進廁所并不常見。

She said they liked moist places with objects to hide under but had become more bold in the search for water during a dry breeding season.
她說，蛇喜歡潮濕且有遮蔽物的地方，但在干旱的繁殖季，它們為了尋找水源變得更加大膽了。

"They can fit in under doors," she said. "There's not much you can do."
“它們能從門縫鉆進去，”教授稱，“對此你基本上無計可施?！?/span>

Schwarzkopf said dripping taps, pipes and sprinklers could attract snakes, which posed little danger as long as an experienced removalist was called.
施瓦茨科夫說，漏水的水龍頭、水管和噴灑器都能吸引蛇前來，只要請來有經驗的捕蛇手將它們移走就沒有什么危險。

Vocabulary

slither：(蛇等) 蜿蜒地滑行

python：蟒蛇

coil：盤繞，盤成圈

unbolt：打開

tug：猛拉，拽

reptile：爬行動物

sprinkler：噴灑裝置

英文來源：衛報

譯者：洪宣

審校&編輯：劉明