The animal’s presence therefore raised a serious possibility: it may have been an escaped or deliberately released pet.
Officials suspected that the snake had likely been released by someone who could no longer care for it, although the owner had not been identified at the time of reporting.
That part of the story is important because the problem was not simply that a snake had wandered into someone’s yard.
It may have been the result of a human decision.
Then Came the X-Ray
Once the python was safely removed, veterinary staff examined the animal.
The swollen abdomen had already provided a clue, but visual observation could not fully reveal what was inside.
The X-ray did.
The image showed that the python had recently swallowed a large opossum.
Suddenly, the enormous bulge made sense.
The python had not developed an unexplained growth.
It wasn’t carrying an object.
It had simply eaten a substantial meal.
For people unfamiliar with snake biology, the X-ray might seem unbelievable.
How could a snake swallow an entire opossum?
The answer lies in one of the most remarkable adaptations in snake anatomy.
How Can a Python Swallow an Animal Whole?
Snakes don’t have hands with which to tear food apart.
They also don’t have the kind of chewing system found in mammals.
Instead, many snakes have evolved a feeding strategy based on swallowing prey whole.
Pythons are constrictors.
They capture prey using their mouths and then use their powerful bodies to restrain it.
Once the prey is subdued, the snake begins the process of swallowing.
The process is often misunderstood.
People sometimes say that snakes “dislocate their jaws.”
That isn’t an accurate description.
A snake’s skull and jaw system is highly specialized and extremely flexible. The lower jaw is divided into two sides that are connected by elastic tissue, while other skull connections also allow considerable movement.
This gives the snake an ability to expand its mouth around prey much more effectively than humans could.
The snake isn’t unhinging its jaw like a door.
Its skull is simply constructed differently.
The Body Is Just as Important as the Mouth
The mouth isn’t the only reason a python can consume large prey.
The snake’s entire body is adapted for flexibility.
The ribs can move outward.
The tissues around the digestive tract can accommodate expansion.
The skin is flexible.
The esophagus can stretch considerably.
This combination allows a python to swallow an animal that looks astonishingly large compared with the snake’s normal body shape.
Afterward, the snake’s appearance changes dramatically.
The prey forms a visible bulge as it moves through the digestive system.
That appears to have been exactly what happened in Freehold.
The swollen area was the physical evidence of a very recent meal.
Why the Opossum Wasn’t Chewed Up
For mammals, eating usually begins with chewing.
Teeth break food into smaller pieces.
Saliva starts the digestive process.
Food is swallowed in manageable portions.
A python has no reason to follow that model.
Instead, the snake’s digestive system is designed to process whole prey.
Research on Burmese pythons has shown just how dramatically their digestive physiology changes after feeding. Their digestive organs undergo major changes as the animal shifts from a fasting state to active digestion. Digestive enzymes and stomach activity increase substantially after a meal.
This is one of the reasons pythons can go for long periods between meals.
They are not constantly eating.
Instead, they consume substantial meals and then spend considerable time processing them.
The Digestive System Essentially Switches Gears
One of the fascinating aspects of python biology is what happens after a large meal.
When a Burmese python is fasting, its digestive system is relatively quiet.