Something to make your jaw ache

No. I did not take these photos.

My sister-in-law's cousin forwarded the pics to me. Or something like that. But I can tell you, if I had been there (at a place described as the '22 kilometre Lake Lindsay overland conveyor route' near German Creek Mine in Central Queensland) I would have been shooting that Nikon off like there was no tomorrow.

Seems to be some kind of python (Morelia spilota or carpet python would be my guess) who was sooooo hungry he took on what can only be described as QUITE a mouthful...

Apparently they suffocate their prey before 'swallowing' or literally wrapping their body around their meal. My clicky jaw hurts just looking at this.

Of course my sympathies to the wallaby too.

We have lots of pythons here - we see their abandoned skins more often than the snakes themselves. The largest scrub python I have seen was as thick as a (working) man's arm and about 10 feet long. Usually they are slow-moving and quite beautiful. Except (I imagine) if they are swallowing a family pet. Or worse.

Soooo... anything freaky in your neck of the woods lately?

Spring-time wake-up call...

Mikey has been posting some amazing images of reptiles

and their behaviour at her place lately...

now I cannot match the snake-eating-snake series,

but this big fella did stop us in our tracks this week.

It is a black-headed python.

He's around 7 feet in length (a bit over 2 metres) lazily stretching out in the sunshine on one of our paddock roads. As winter flees the scene here at Granite Glen, and Summer tramples all over Spring with soaring temperatures, our reptiles are waking up fast and sunning themselves on every available bit of bare ground...

As our friend Steve Irwin would have said...
Isn't he a BEAUTY?

There is something utterly mesmerising about snakes.

Sinuous and smooth and glossy...

Of course a snake is a snake is a snake...

And to be honest, I'm not so much a fan of getting up close and personal with 'em

especially when they do the tongue flicker...

*shudder*

Gotta love a zoom lense though!

...

We have quite a lot of the deadly variety (browns, taipans , death adders etc) around here too, of which we have already seen a number in the last couple of weeks. These guys are to be avoided at all costs. The last one - a big brown almost 5-and-a-half feet long - was spotted right near the house a few days ago... not exactly a formula for letting the kids play out of Mummy's line of sight!

...

But these pythons are supposed to be the 'good guys' and actually eat the venomous versions of their species. Now I'd like to see THAT!!

And as this guy did a u-turn away from the ute, and headed back into the bush, I did admire his incredible lithe form and intricate patterning.

Bye-bye Mr 'Joe Blake'.

I am sooooo brave with a few inches of metal between me and Mother Nature's finest...

I am SUCH a city girl sometimes!!!

Ssssstop!!!

I went driving in a ute to pick up my Dad from his grader-driving stint yesterday.

Some people play bowls or go fishing to relax when they are almost-70.

My Dad goes grader driving.

He's had an unusual life.

We were having a lovely chat, he and I, on the way back through the paddocks, when I saw what looked like a branch lying halfway across the road. A branch that, ever so slightly, moved.

I jammed on the brakes, reversed a little and grabbed the camera.

See what I see??

As my hubby would say: It's a Joe Blake!

Or in the immortal words of Steve Irwin: Isn't he a little beauty!??

I don't actually know if it's a 'he' but I DO know that it not one of our real nasty legless residents - but a non-venomous python- a black-headed python to be exact.A curious black-headed python... he refused to slide off into the grass beside the road until he had well and truly checked us out. It's important to note that I stayed in the safety of the vehicle - he may have just been curious and non-venomous, but I wasn't about to see if he was up for giving me a taste test!
To be honest, I'm not really a snake-lover, but these particular snakes are considered 'good guys' out here - they are carnivores. They are said to eat other (more dangerous) snakes like taipans and death adders and fierce snakes. At least, that's what 'they' say.
And I am happy to take 'them' at their word.
Some people also keep these guys as exotic pets.
I have to say, I am still leaning towards a Great Dane.
But that's just me.
Venomous or not, this zoomed in glimpse through the Nikon zoom is quite close enough for me...
How about you?
Are you a snake-lover?

Mystery solved: Things that make you go hmmmm...

Did you figure out my little mystery yesterday?

.

Looked kinda like a honeycomb pattern, didn't it?

With a wonderful deep, luminous amber hue shining through...

.

Really beautiful in a way only Mother Nature can be...
.

In a reptilian kinda way...

It's a snakeskin, found near our loading ramp, just 20 metres from the house.

It's fascinating, all soft and light and supple...

And very, very long... see how it's in three separate pieces? When it's all added up together it's almost seven feet (well over 2 metres) long. And that's dried. Who knows how big it was when it was 'fresh'? I'm not at all sure I want to be enlightened... (Notice how Lacie, in the background of the above pic, doesn't seem too concerned. She knows the previous owner of that skin left yesterday! And if she hangs around long enough, the odds of getting a sheaf of hay increase exponentially. Whatever that means...)

Dash want to check it out. He knows this will be a killer exhibit at Show and Tell.

TLW is a bit more reticent. It might look all safe and uninhabited but she has her mother's natural cynicism. She'll let Dash give her the all clear first!

'This thing is LONG... look Mum!'

(Anyone else notice that it is actually way longer than my little man?)

'Let me try! Look Mum ... it's 'mazing!'

I'm no Steve Irwin... and this thing kinda gives me the shudders. I'm trying to make this a salient lesson in "Why You Should Never Play Near the Loading Ramp on Your Own".
I can't get past the concept:

"A SNAKE USED TO LIVE IN THAT!"

But the kids are too fascinated to really understand what their Ma is carrying on about. To them it's just totally 'mazing. SSB thinks this skin maybe belonged to a black-headed python, like this ...

...who can grow to three metres (almost 10 feet) are not venomous and considered 'good' snakes as they actually hunt and eat other snakes...

Hmmmm....not giving me the warm and fuzzies yet.

But at least they aren't, like, the deadliest snake in the world. Not like this Fierce snake we had visit our little local show here a couple of months back...

Or this lovely black snake I spotted sunning itself on the road just a couple of kms from Granite Glen a couple of weeks back... Like I say, I'm not snake expert but it is possibly a black tiger snake (or yellow-bellied black)... which are no slouches in the venom stakes. I certainly wasn't going any closer to ask if it was friendly or not...

In case you haven't guessed, we are quite some way from a hospital.

And anti venom.

And all this just makes me wonder...

Who exactly owned that lovely silky calling card hung delicately over the branches of the bottle brush tree earlier this year?

The one RIGHT NEAR OUR FRONT DOOR!

So, now you understand why I am pretty good at checking corners and curtain rods and showers and branches for signs of untoward and uninvited slitherin'. Lucky I'm not the nervy type!
Hugs

BB

PS Have I told you the story about the time a taipan came in through the window towards Dash on Day 2 at Granite Glen... no?? We might save that story for another day. Don't know about you but I need a cuppa/scotch-and-dry and a good lie down now!