Cut snake on mend as friend tucks into toy
ONE made a feast of a dog's toy bunny, while the other was fighting a losing battle to ensure its meals stayed swallowed.
Airport Veterinary Surgery on Sheridan St is caring for two snakes with two of the most bizarre meal-time stories.
A Dimbulah farmer recently brought in a carpet snake with a large slice along its body starting from its jaw: the wound would not allow the serpent to keep meals down as they exited from the cut after being eaten.
The farmer said he had saved a wild rabbit from his two pet dogs earlier this month only to find the animal being consumed by the snake not long after.
In a bizarre scene, the farmer saw the rabbit’s ears protruding from the wound in the snake’s body just as its feet were disappearing into the snake’s mouth.
The rabbit, though crushed to death in the attack, eventually fully re-emerged from the wound.
Airport Veterinary Surgery vet Carol Esson said the snake’s jugular could be seen from the cut, which she believes was made from contact with a wire fence.
"It’s quite incredible that its meals were actually going in one end and straight out the other," she said.
The snake has been stitched up and will be released soon.
In another strange snake story, a 2.5m scrub python was brought into the surgery on Monday with a squeaky toy bunny in its belly.
A Redlynch woman woke to find her pet dog barking at something under her bed.
When she got up to investigate, she stood on the snake before hitting the lights.
She then saw the snake eating her dog’s squeaky toy bunny, which is made of foam and fake fur and is about the size of a guinea pig.
"The snake was real skinny and desperate for a feed," said David Walton, the owner of Cairns Snake Removals, who was called to catch the reptile.
"I’ve seen them eat cats, carrots, dogs and guinea pigs but never a stuffed toy animal."
Ms Esson said the snake probably detected the dog’s saliva and thought the toy was a real meal.
The snake will receive fluids and remain under observation. Vets will surgically remove the toy bunny if it doesn’t digest the item in the next week.
Meanwhile, Cairns hobby snake removalist Brian James caught a serpent at Babinda on Tuesday night after the animal had been feasting on a family’s chook pen for a month.
The snake had been eating one chicken a week from the pen before it was caught.
Share this article
Bizarre: Airport Veterinary clinic vets Lucy Weeks and Carol Esson with the python snake that ate a toy rabbit. Picture: SEAN DAVEY
Noisy New Year fuels jail fears
A MAN was so convinced he was going to jail for hosting a noisy New Year's Day party he put his things in storage and arranged to have his dog put down, a Cairns court heard.
Labrador shocks owner with deadly snake
HE'S never had a nose for trouble before but black labrador Bronson sure knows how to turn heads with his retrieving tricks.
Amazing pics of snake eating toad
THIS snake's hunger will come back to haunt it, as experts warn the toxic cane toad will eventually kill it.
Frog eats a snake
GREEN frogs are a regular sight in Far North Queensland - but rarely making a meal of a snake.
Police hunt Goldilocks intruder
A SNOOZY intruder who broke into a home and slept in the bed has left behind tell-tale clues.
