Escapee returned with full stomach - Cane Toad danger?

[Jaymis]

Just checked on our Bredli (Irwin) a couple of hours ago and noticed that the door to his enclosure had been slid slightly open and he'd escaped. Last time I had it open was yesterday, so he could have been gone for over 24 hours.

After a couple of hours of pulling the house apart and searching around outside in the dark, I'd given up and was planning on buying some rats as bait when the Girly located him 3 metres up a tree.

After some dexterous work with a ladder and several helpers pulling on tree branches I eventually managed to extricate him. He's in good temper, alert, and has a particularly thick and quite long bulge in his stomach. I had a little feel of the bulge and I'd say it's probably a bird as he's been hanging out in trees, but I saw a cane toad outside and was wondering how likely it is that he's got a toad all the way down.

Has anyone had a python catch a cane toad before? Any symptoms I should be looking out for? (Apart from feathery poop?)

I read somewhere about people discovering pythons dead with cane toads still in their mouths, so is the poison fast acting?

I'm going to keep an eye on him, so if I notice he's getting listless I'll take him to the vet (anyone know any good herp vets on the Brisbane Southside?), but is this a concern? Should I be worrying or is the fact that the lump is all the way down proof that it's not a toad?

And, moral of the escapee story: Don't give up! Keep looking, and use a very good torch.

[Dabool]

if it was a cane toad he would be dead pretty quickly i found a wild water python dead with a toad in its mouth the poison is pretty fast acting.

[snakeman112]

I wouldnt worry As i heard that The poison Is fast acting

[Jaymis]

Thanks for the information guys, he's up and about this morning enjoying his mat and light - and still has a huge bulge - so I don't think it was a toad.

I do think that perhaps I wasn't feeding him big enough rats though, the current bulge looks to be almost double the size of what I've been feeding him.

[mitch-001]

any pics

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Jaymis,

The vast majority of new python keepers underestimate the size of the feeds they should (or could) be feeding their pythons. In the near future I am going to put a post up showing just how big a meal they can consume...

[cockney red]

Look forward to that.

Originally Posted by Jonno from ERD

G'day Jaymis,

The vast majority of new python keepers underestimate the size of the feeds they should (or could) be feeding their pythons. In the near future I am going to put a post up showing just how big a meal they can consume...

[thesilverbeast]

good to hear its not a toad!


jonno, mate you gotta put that thread up! i was in that category. amazed when someone gave me a larger food item to try than i thought they could take. one guy even told me that they should always have smaller than their head to avoid the head splitting or something. i just walked right away and found the right guy to talk to. its amazing what some people think!

[Luke1]

can't wait for that thread, i just feed my spottie and didn't think it would eat the size of the mouse she had. and she ate the whole thing

yea, i have seen picks of snakes with cane toads in there mout and so it must be so fast in killing the predetor. one of the strangest photos tho i saw was when i saw a large cane toad still alive in the snakes jaws and the snake was already dead...it hadn't even gone into the mouth yet, just holding it.

[Dabool]

Originally Posted by Jonno from ERD

G'day Jaymis,

The vast majority of new python keepers underestimate the size of the feeds they should (or could) be feeding their pythons. In the near future I am going to put a post up showing just how big a meal they can consume...

cool this is something i have often wondered about .

[Trouble]

I just found this on google... it says its a keelback eating a cane toad... don't know if its dead or not...

[Jaymis]

Originally Posted by Jonno from ERD

G'day Jaymis,

The vast majority of new python keepers underestimate the size of the feeds they should (or could) be feeding their pythons. In the near future I am going to put a post up showing just how big a meal they can consume...

Thanks for the tip Jonno. I guess I've read so much about pinhead syndrome and I'm in no particular hurry for him to be massive, so I tend to err on the side of keeping him lean rather than filling him up! I guess this may be one of the reasons he escaped though - hunger! - so I'm going to be a bit more generous from now on.

For interest, here's a video of him feeding - http://vimeo.com/316479 - this is a couple of months ago and I think he's a size up since the second rat in that video, but the current bulge is considerably bigger (probably almost double) than what he's been getting, so I think it's definitely time to go up a size.

And, as requested, pics:

[Packages]

Glad you got him back mate! Although he may need a vet check up in a few weeks to check for any parasites he may have picked up whilst out and about, and more worryingly, from the animal he consumed.

[mungus]

Save on rat $$$$$.....lol

[dansfish4tea]

u dont need to go to the vet