On the move

Tomorrow will be day 50 since the python caught the wallaby and today it changed the resting spot from the pavers to the garden. Until now it hasn't been able to lift the weight to get into the garden but a week ago it did move across to the lily bowl to have a deep drink.

I expect that it will not be long now until it moves off to a more secluded spot to rest through the remaining cool weather.

A big meal takes time to digest

It is 23 days since the Diamond Python captured and swallowed a young Red-necked Wallaby and it is taking some time for this large meal to be digested.

Since the capture the python has stayed in this sheltered corner below the garden bed where the warmth of the sun helps with its digestion.

However having a big meal just before the colder weather of winter requires a longer time for the digestion processes to be completed.

The previous capture in 2013 was in October and the full digestion was completed within two weeks.

Life & death in the garden

Recently we had seen a young wallaby making its first forays out of its mother's pouch, racing about in the mad dashes and then back to the pouch. It is one of the sights we like to watch as you can just see the exuberance in the discovery of how, after so long in the pouch they can take leaps and bounds in their new world.

We have also just found a new Diamond Python not too long out of the egg (likely the result of the mating in our lily bowl last October) and now discovering its world, which at the moment is amongst our passionfruit vine, well out of sight of predators.

Youngsters are always vulnerable in these early stages before they have developed awareness of the dangers.

We have had one of the adult Diamond Pythons around the garden as the weather has not been too cold and today it caught the young wallaby on a venture away from mum.

I didn't see the initial capture, only coming upon the scene when most of the wallaby was swallowed. It is almost three years since I recorded the previous capture of a young wallaby and it is obvious that the pythons know when youngsters are around and the areas they frequent, so they just await their opportunity to strike.

 Whether the young python survives the perils that await it we may not know but the chances are stacked against it, as of the clutch of around a dozen eggs only one or two will get to reach adulthood.

Mother wallaby stayed nearby for a few hours waiting for its youngster to come back but then moved off to feed and with the youngster gone will probably start the development of the next embryo that it has stored from its last mating.

Time of the year

October is the month when reptiles are out and about as the weather warms up and it is time to go looking for a mate. The two Diamond Pythons that we have living in the vicinity of the house are combining a dip in the waterlily bowl with mating activity.

When I first saw a Python in the waterlily bowl two weeks ago I thought it was after the goldfish, but no, on a closer look saw that there were actually two snakes in the bowl, although one was  submerged and eating a fish was not the aim.

They were quite active moving around in the bowl, intertwining in knots and after some time in the bowl came to the rim to spent time in the sun.

 

In the afternoon they left the bowl and curled up under a bush in the garden then next morning have a repeat performance.

This took place for a week and then they left and I didn't see them again until today when they were back in the bowl.

 This afternoon they left the bowl and coiled alongside each other on the pavers and I will be interested to see if they continue their aquatic activity tomorrow.

 The largest is around 2m with the smaller being about 1.5m but I don't know which is the male or female. (the larger is the one that captured the young wallaby two years ago)

Patient hunter

We are having extremely hot and dry weather with little rainfall in the past four months and our bird baths are getting well used. Over the past week and a bit we have had a large Diamond Python located on the top of a fallen log that is part of the garden not far from our front door and for most of the day it is just curled up inconspicuously on top of the log.

However there is a bird bath located on the ground just below the log and the python had worked out that this was a likely location to catch its next meal. (I do not believe in intervening in the natural way of things, so life and death is part of everyday)

In the morning and late afternoon the python would position itself poised ready to strike and stay without moving for a number of hours. 

Birds are generally at this bird bath most mornings and afternoons but they had obviously worked out that the python was there as they gave it a wide berth and used our other bird baths.

I did think that it was only a matter of time before one arrived without knowing about the snake, however I was surprised yesterday morning to hear a scuffle and look out to see an unexpected result.

The water had brought a Red-necked Wallaby and her youngster in for a drink and the python had the youngster in its deadly coils.

Death came relatively quickly through suffocation, as you will note a coil around the mouth and the many coils tightening around the chest.

As soon as the struggling ceased the python arranged itself at the head and through the expansion of elasticised ligaments holding the jaws and then dislocation of the jaws it commenced to swallow the wallaby.

 

Throughout, the mother wallaby was nearby not able to do anything and it appeared not all that certain of what was happening and where the youngster had gone.

With the wallaby completely swallowed the python put its jaws back in place and moved off to find a secluded place to spend time digesting the large meal and it will be unlikely to need to hunt for sometime.

 Mother wallaby stayed around for awhile looking around and givimg little calls before moving to feed.

You feel a sense of loss at seeing the death of a cute furry little critter but the python has to exist as well and they are quite beautiful in their own way.

 

Start of an evening out.

We have had a Diamond Python the past few weeks on an off spending its day rest period in a little hollow alongside on of the verandah posts. It was there again today and just as it was about to move out for the evening's hunting I grabbed a photo. The flash accentuates the black and gold but the greenish colour tones seen during the day are almost non existent.

An hour or so after the photo it was on the move and I could get a good idea of the length, around 2m.

Baby python

Getting our gardens ready for our Garden Club's open garden weekend and then being away has kept me away from the blog, but now we are back to normal I thought I should get going again.

This one goes back some weeks and the photo was taken by Lee who with his family were staying in the holiday cottage. The wildlife was quite active with lots of birds, our resident Lace monitor around and this baby Diamond Python put in an appearance.

From little things big things grow

Quite a warm clear day brought out a couple of snakes; a green tree snake travelling along our decking rail and Di when checking for ripe passionfruit discovered a tiny Diamond Python Python spilotus spilotus  curled around a stem, under the shelter of a leaf. This youngster could not have been long out of the egg as it looked to be only about 200mm long (although it was all curled up so can't be certain) and its head was about a little fingernail size. It was in a difficult position to get a good photo so took one with available light and adjusted contrast on the PC and then took one with fill in flash.

Big colour difference due to the green light through the leaves without the flash and then the true colours of the juvenile snake with flash. As a contrast as I was working in the orchard a couple of days ago I found a large Diamond Python had made a daybed in the high branches of a Strawberry Guava bush and it looked to be at least 1800mm long based on the thickness and the mass it took up in the bush.

A real gem

Some warm, drier weather has brought the snakes back out and yesterday I saw a Red-bellied Black snake and a Yellow-faced Whip snake. Today, late this afternoon a medium sized Diamond Python was soaking up the warmth on the pavers in the courtyard.