Inside a Bat-Filled Cave: Hunting Reticulated Pythons in Bali

Really? Yeah, we are rolling. All right, I'm going into the cave. Max is going to follow me. Let's go catch a python. Absolute insanity. See, it's like locked in there. I'm literally walking in a mountain of bat species right now. This is the craziest situation I think I've ever been in with mammals before. I'm going to walk down and try to find the cave. No idea what's going to happen, but if we can find a reticulated python today, it would be pretty fantastic. These coastlines are no joke here in the Indian Ocean. The waves are massive and turbulent. The idea of falling

into there, not an idea I want to mess with. Holy cow, that's a lot of bats. Oh wow. I don't think finding bats is going to be a problem. Careful, guys. This looks really slippery. There's so many bats. Oh, and it stinks. Definitely getting out of bandana. That smells proper. You see a python? Max might already see a python. Oh, yeah. It is a python. That's a retic. All right. Currently eating a bat. Well, definitely not going to catch that snake. Never ever disturb an animal when it's made a catch. That's a big no. But I'm going to venture back further into here and see if there's any snakes down lower. You can actually feel

all the wind from their wings. It's like being in a cyclone of bats. Thousands and thousands of them. That's crazy. I mean, there's just so much poop. Oh, there's roaches everywhere. The ground is literally moving with roaches. Cannot fathom how many roaches are inside of here. It is insane. The craziest thing I've ever walked into. Absolute insanity in here. Almost at a loss for words. This is so crazy. The sound from all of the wings. Yeah. But it's on a bigger snake. Okay, we caught a python that is just hanging out and not eating

anything and it should be catchable. We'll catch that snake in a second. I'm going to venture back further in while you guys get this snake eating back. Pretty cool behavior to see a python, a reticulated python, not a real big one, taking an opportunity like this to come into a cave to feast on bats. I mean, this is an endless bat buffet line. There's no question about that. Got hit in the side of the head by a bat. Guess his echo-location's a little off. There's a python. I see a good size one.

Going to need a steak hook to catch that snake. See him down in the corner over there? Let's go for this. He's big. You can get that coil. Get that back coil out. fun. Come on. Get my coil. Come on. Grab it. Ah, he's going deeper. Or maybe just turn around. I think I can still get him. Yeah. He can't go further. Further? No, I can't. If I can just get his tail out this way. Oh, yeah. He's going to come up like this. So gross. He's so big. I can't get the hook around him. I see his head. He's huge. He's really light back there. Hold on. I'm not going to give up.

All right. You got to sail. Come on, buddy. Come on. Almost. I'm losing out. I don't think I'm going to get him. At least we got to plan B. Oh man, I am gross. That one probably close to 12 ft in length. It was absolutely massive.

Let's get the small one. No matter where in the world I am, I need to be able to power my gear. Some of which is pretty serious stuff. Whether I'm lost in a cave, keeping the lights on in the field, or even preparing sustenance, or a much needed caffeine boost, I need a power source I can trust. And that's why I rely on Bluei. This is the Bluei Elite 300, a portable power station that packs an incredible 3 kW hours of capacity. That's more power than a typical 2 kWh unit. It's powerful enough to run high draw power appliances like microwaves, coffee makers, blenders, heaters,

my Sega Genesis, and even a 12vt fridge. And you can plug it directly into an RV. Out here, power isn't just a luxury. It's essential. Yes, the Elite 300 gives me direct connections with no adapters, lets me power multiple devices at once, and handles both big draws and small essentials with ease. With the Bluetti app, I can monitor energy use, remotely wake the unit, and even schedule basic device automation, all through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. And the Elite 300 has even earned the Editor's Choice Award from review.com. Recognition for realworld performance

you can count on. If you're looking for a dependable off-grid power solution that keeps you connected and prepared, Bluetti 300 Elite has got your back. Visit the link in the description and use code BRAVE8OFF to get 8% off all Elite 300 series now through May 31st. Stay powered, stay prepared, and stay wild. Oh, I made that. Did you see that? I totally just swished it again. I got to go wash myself off in the ocean first. Ah, it was such a big snake. I'm just absolutely covered. So, the circumference of the snake was so big, this couldn't hold it. So, it was easily this big around. And the last thing I want to do is

possibly hurt the animal. So, just kind of had to give in at that point and say, you know what? We live to search another day. Nobody was injured. I might have some new form of disease from rolling around in all that back guano, but we gave it a really solid effort. And the good news is that you're still going to see a python in this episode because we have one right on the mouth of the cave that is hopefully going to be very easy to catch cuz just on a little tiny rock ledge sleeping. Got it. Or I'm going down or I get bitten. All right, follow me, guys.

All right, calm down, buddy. Calm down. Woo! Wow! Still a pretty decent sized snake. It's actually a lot bigger than I thought it was when I got it off the ledge. It just goes to show you that when these animals are coiled up, they can be very deceiving as to how big they actually are. Now, I'm going to attempt to not be bitten in the process of this because I'm just covered in so much bat guano. You can see the snake's actually being pretty chill at the moment. Let me see if we can keep it that way. Ow, not so much. Just took a bite out of my knee. Okay. Well, we're

going to use the snake hook because now I've got a knee that's been bitten and covered in back guano at the same time. All right. Oh my goodness. Yep, he got me there. Yeah, I know. I know that you see me. You know, I'm just going to do a head grab for the sake of this presentation because it'll be a little bit easier than just balancing him around. Sorry, buddy. You got a little a little sand in your mouth. Let me uh let me dip his mouth off in water real quick. Uh Max, can you run over to my backpack and grab my water bottle that's on the side? Wow. The reticulated python. This is the

first one that I've caught here in the Indonesian islands. And it's absolutely beautiful. It's tough to tell, but there's a lot of iridescent in those scales. And this is one of the largest snake species in the world. Adults can get close to 20 ft in length. And it's one of the heaviest snakes you can possibly come across. The one that was down nestled in the cave that I wasn't able to work out of the rocks was undoubtedly close to 12 ft in length. Especially looking at this one. This one is one, two, three, about 4 and 1/2 ft. I would say that other one triples the size of this

snake. What an awesome reptile. Uh, my entire life, I have dreamed of catching one of these in its native range. You can see it's starting to constrict around my arm, which is actually kind of exactly what I would love for it to do because then I'd be a bit more in control of this situation, even though the snake seems like it's in control. And even a snake of this size, believe it or not, could be potentially deadly if it were to wrap around your neck. All it takes is a bit of constriction for it to tighten down on your neck, the muscles, and all of your major blood vessels

and arteries to be able to cut off circulation, air flow, and get you to pass out. All right, if I let you go, I'm going to wash your mouth out a little bit. Let's Let's see your mouth. Get that. Okay, there we go. Just had a little sand. All this dark sand. There we go. All right. Got them cleaned up now. All right. I'm gonna let go of your head. Don't bite me. Okay. There we go. Don't come up on my face, though. I don't want to get bitten in the face. Wow. It's so strong. It's requiring all the strength in my arm to keep it extended so

that it's not able to get closer to my face. All right. That's pretty good. Like that. I'm comfortable there. Are you comfortable? Sometimes just getting an animal to calm down in a situation can be the hardest part of a presentation, especially when you're trying to not get bitten. And the snake seems like it's feeling a little calmer. You can see that they Okay, you were a little close to my arm there. Now getting kind of close to my face. They've got these little sensory pits at the front of their nose there. So, he definitely can indicate the

fact that I am right in front of him. Now, these bats, these bats, these snakes are hanging from the roof of the cave, can use their whole body to position themselves, and then they're able to strike out and grab a hold of one of those bats. What an awesome opportunity for these snakes to just get an easy meal continuously. It is literally a bat buffet line inside that cave. So, you can imagine that these snakes can just stay there, become bigger and healthier, and grow and grow, even at the edge of the ocean like this. This is not where you would normally

expect to see something like a python. And it is constricted so tightly around my arm right now. It's beginning to cut off the circulation my hand. Oh, this is so cool. So, we saw several snakes that were eating bats. This one was just sleeping, which made it seem like it was probably the right one to actually catch and interact with. I wish I would have gotten the larger snake, but you have to know as a wildlife presenter and somebody who catches animals. You can only push something so far. It causes stress for any animal to think that it's going to be caught and possibly predated

upon. So, considering this fact that it was so big, so wedged under the rocks, I gave it my best effort. But sometimes you just have to chalk it up and say, you know what, it's going to be easier to present a smaller snake. Honestly, handling a 12-oot snake right now, trying to keep it under control would have been next to impossible. But I know you guys would have loved to see that snake, but lo and behold, we still managed to get one up close for the cameras. So cool. The reticulated python. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see you on the next adventure. All right,

buddy. Thanks for only giving me one bite. We're going to get you back up on your cliff side. And there it goes. And I need a serious shower.