Struggle for Life
This image captures a crucial moment. The snake is a common tree snake (Dendrelaphis punctualis) — often seen in sub-tropical locations and isabout 1.2m long and harmless to humans). The tree snake has found a frog in the well of a 'self-watering' pot at my Gold Coast hinterland home and sought to eat it. The whole snake has been inside the pot and has begun swallowing the frog headfirst while the snake's tail has been constricting the frog to make it easier to swallow. However, there are two problems. There is not enough room for constriction in the cramped well and the snake's subsequent efforts to pull the frog out of the pot well have failed because the frog held in the snake's mouth will not fit through the hole. At the moment captured the snake has just given up swallowing but the frog is still held in position by the constriction so the frog cannot escape and is in a sorry state. Part of the snake's tail now hangs out of the pot. After this moment, the snake slowly stops constricting and slides away to hide in another pot nearby to rest. I checked the status of the frog which was still alive despite both suffocation and constriction but did not seem well. I do not know what happened after that. The saga took about two hours. The snake is a common visitor in my garden and I expect to see it again soon. The future of the frog is not known.
Struggle for Life
This image captures a crucial moment. The snake is a common tree snake (Dendrelaphis punctualis) — often seen in sub-tropical locations and isabout 1.2m long and harmless to humans). The tree snake has found a frog in the well of a 'self-watering' pot at my Gold Coast hinterland home and sought to eat it. The whole snake has been inside the pot and has begun swallowing the frog headfirst while the snake's tail has been constricting the frog to make it easier to swallow. However, there are two problems. There is not enough room for constriction in the cramped well and the snake's subsequent efforts to pull the frog out of the pot well have failed because the frog held in the snake's mouth will not fit through the hole. At the moment captured the snake has just given up swallowing but the frog is still held in position by the constriction so the frog cannot escape and is in a sorry state. Part of the snake's tail now hangs out of the pot. After this moment, the snake slowly stops constricting and slides away to hide in another pot nearby to rest. I checked the status of the frog which was still alive despite both suffocation and constriction but did not seem well. I do not know what happened after that. The saga took about two hours. The snake is a common visitor in my garden and I expect to see it again soon. The future of the frog is not known.