Yesterday began as just another day. Woke up late, sat staring at social media for a couple of hours, had many cups of tea, watched the rain and then it was afternoon. Just when I thought that may be I should say hello to all the pending work, I hear the words, "pambu, pambu!" Jumped out of my chair and ran out, and there it was, a rather long and thick rat snake slowly crawling along the wall separating our compound from the neighbours. Big rat snake! No need to catch it, but I should get a photo, I thought. I moved back slowly without alarming the snake till I was inside the door, then ran in to my room to get my camera.
I have just two cheap lenses, an 18-55 mm and a 55-250 mm. I needed the 55-250 to get pictures without troubling the snake, and damn! The lens fitted to the camera was 18-55 mm and with a cheap extension tube that I used for photographing a little frog last night. Get it off fast, I thought, but the only the lens came off, leaving the extension tube still attached to the camera body! Try as I might, it wouldn't come off. I try with my hands, I try with a handkerchief, with my t-shirt...damn you stupid tubes! Finally the extension tube decided to leave the camera behind. I ran out after fitting the next lens fast, but the snake was nowhere to be seen.
Just as I turned back, my father standing near the door points out the snake, which had climbed up the wall and was peeking out at me from the shade of garden plants. I could only manage a couple of shots of its head, before it decided that I was not worth its time, jumped to the other side and vanished. How do they do that? They are like Ninjas!
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| Rat snake (Ptyas mucosa). The common name is slightly misleading as this species loves to eat frogs, may be even more than rats. |
A few minutes later, I was sitting inside looking at the photos I had taken, and I heard those words again, but in combination with the word "thavala". There it was again, this time chasing a bull frog across our yard. They went around the house, I ran back in to get the camera again. By the time I got back to them, two were becoming one, and not in a good way. The snake had the frog pinned to a corner, and was already swallowing the still squeaking prey. It was difficult to get a shot given the way its body was coiled up, but I managed one shot without creating much disturbance to the snake. It finished the meal in about three minutes, and very wisely decided to crawl in to a bandicoot hole in that corner. The last I saw of it was the beautiful yellow tail, criss-crossed with a network of black lines, slowly disappearing in to the hole.
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| The snake made a quick, yet bloody, work of the bull frog. |
Fairly good day for me and the snake, worst day ever for that frog.
