Python vs Killer Toad 03 Music

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The invasive Burmese Python has established a permanent breeding population in Florida. After matting during spring, the female searches for a secure lair to lay her eggs. Incubation lasts for sixty days. During this time the python will not leave her nest hunt for food nor to find water to drink. Two weeks later, the python has laid her eggs. Wrapped around in a tied coil and twitching her muscles frequently to raise the ambient temperature around the eggs by several degrees.

High humidity and about ninety degrees are optimal conditions for the developing embryos. If the temperature climbs above ninety degree the python will open her coil for the air to do the cooling. With the eggs exposed the python is on high alert and will attack anything moving to close to her nest. The average snake strike lasts between 40 and 70 milliseconds and it takes approximately 200 milliseconds for a human eye to the blink. Which means that a snake could strike four times within the blink of an eye.

Most animals will stay a way from a python’s nest but the invasive cane toad is bold enough to challenge such aggressive behavior. The toad shows little concern while approaching the python due to the highly toxic milky substance its parotoid glands releases when in danger. Its poison is responsible for killing many dogs and cats each year in Florida and was attributed to a massive crocodile dying years ago in Australia. Hence, people call it the giant killer toad today.

These toads have a ferocious appetite and will prey on anything that fits into their mouth. Their diet ranges from insects to fish, frogs, small rodents and birds. But the python’s eggs are simply too large for the toad to swallow. Cane toads breed year-round and the male attracts the female with a distinctive mating call.

But to be heard by enough females is another matter. So way not making use of the incubating python to climb his way to the top, to attract the largest audience possible. When night approaches, the snake will have to stay alert to protect her eggs. Most predators are nocturnal and search for prey under the cover of darkness. With little change to rest, the python needs to stay awake and face the approaching danger.

Python vs Killer Toads was filmed by Heiko Kiera aka Ojatro in 2016.