WATCH: 4-metre python relocated from Ballito property
Snake handling experts have rescued a four-metre python and the snake's eggs in Ballito, on the north coast.
KwaZulu-Natal snake expert, Nick Evans says when they arrived on the property - the Southern African python was nestled deep in a tunnel near the garage.
"It's hard to describe - the wall of the garage is against an embankment. Where the roof joins the embankment, there was a gap - and a tunnel in there. At first I wasn't sure if she had eggs. I lifted a tiny piece of her body and then I could see the eggs. She was close to the entrance of this tunnel and normally pythons lay their eggs underground."
The reptile was found curled atop approximately 40 eggs.
ALSO READ: PHOTOS: Rare removal of green mamba in Toti
Nick Evans says unlike other snakes - pythons are protective over their eggs - until they hatch.
"The noise that she was making was like a dinosaur's - it was loud and echoed in that little tunnel. She guards them and incubates them. So without the mother, the eggs can't survive. It's very clever - she would go up and lie in the sun to get warm and return to wrap herself around those eggs. She's kept them at a temperature of around 30 degrees." Evans said.
He says if left until they hatch, the hatchlings would not survive as the location was near a construction site.
See footage of the delicate removal process below.