As I lifted my hand to open the vegetable garden gate yesterday afternoon I noticed a very young snake lying along the top of the gate with it’s head tucked out of sight in a gap between two pieces of timber. I returned to the house, via the alternative gate, for my camera plus Allen (also with camera).
I was fascinated by the flecks of blue, almost iridescent, on the snake’s scales, a highlight of colour on an otherwise pale brown upper-side. Green Tree-snakes are often described as having blue flecks, especially on the flanks but I have never seen a good example. The adults we often see here are quite black on their upper side so it would be interesting to know if this youngster will lose the ‘blue’ as it ages.
I became curious about why the snake had it’s head hidden as it seemed to ignore my gentle stroking. When it started wriggling I wondered aloud if perhaps it was stuck so I started encouraging it to back out by lifting up part of the body and it wasn’t long before we found out why it was ‘hiding’. It had a mouthful of frog!
We were interested that L. rubella made no sound even when it was first pulled out of the crevice. As many would be aware when a White-lipped Tree Frog (Litoria infrafrenata) is grabbed by a predator it screams like a human baby, and it is difficult to restrain from interfering.
Litoria rubella has a wide geographic distribution covering the northern parts of Australia from desert to wet tropics. It is known by many common names; Desert Frog, Red Tree Frog, Little Red Frog and Naked Tree Frog but in this household we tend to refer it by it’s species name as that seems less confusing.
Unfazed by the paparazzi’s intense focus the snake concentrated on swallowing the frog. It was fascinating to observe the gradual swallowing process although it wasn’t so much fun for the frog! Although we do love our frogs we recognize they are also an important food source
This photo was taken a few minutes later and you can see the bulge half-way along the snake already. Snakes use quite a lot of energy consuming and digesting food so it was probably really pleased that we stopped trying to make it pose for a photo and left it alone. Hopefully it didn’t stay on the gate for too long as it would make a tasty snack for a Butcherbird or a Kookaburra!
As we both took photos, pushing each other around a bit of course, I have used some of his and some of mine!
Allen
Barbara
Wild Wings & Swampy Things 