Snake croaks it as green tree frog turns tables and swallows reptile for dinner

A green tree frog has been caught on camera turning the tables and devouring a snake which usually preys upon amphibians. WATCH THE VIDEO

A Green Tree frog has been caught on film devouring a snake for tea.

Lex and Melissa MacPherson were inside their Cedar Vale home about 7.30pm Tuesday when their youngest dog suddenly dashed out the dog door and started barking.

Mrs MacPherson, 51, said her husband went out to check what Feez, their 1-year-old Maremma border collie cross, was barking at because she had a “different type of bark.”

“We were literally sitting inside. There was no notice or anything and she just took off,” she said.

Mr MacPherson, 59, quickly shouted for his wife to bring her phone out after following Feez and, to his surprise, finding an approximately 10cm long green tree frog with the head and tail of a keelback snake inside its mouth.

A green tree frog was captured devouring a freshwater snake called a keelback on Tuesday night in Cedar Vale, a suburb of Logan. Picture: Melissa MacPherson

In the video, the frog’s stomach can be seen expanding and deflating as it slowly swallows the non-venomous serpent, which was estimated to be more than 25cm long.

Mrs MacPherson said it was the first time in 30 years they had encountered such sight on their six acre property.

“We’ve been there 30 years and never seen anything like that, we expected to see a snake eating a frog, not the other way around,” she said.

“ I actually said ‘What in the frog tarnation is going on here’.

“The frog had the snake in its mouth and I said to Lex, ‘Oh my God, is the frog going to die?’ because (the frog) had saliva in its mouth.

“It had its little front legs with the suction cups wrapped around the snake. It was holding on and not letting go of that snake.”

She said it was “so fascinating to watch.”

It took about 30 minutes for the frog to swallow it’s meal. Picture: Melissa MacPherson

It took the frog about half an hour from the time Feez alerted the Logan couple to the unusual meal to the snake disappearing into the amphibian’s stomach.

Mrs MacPherson said she went back outside to check on the scene about 8.05pm.

“The frog was literally just lying there. It was sitting there like a Cheshire cat eating guts,” she said.

While the frog was still in the middle of its meal, Mrs MacPherson posted photos to the Australian Snake Identification group on Facebook.

The post attracted more than 100 comments before the ability to write a comment was turned off automatically due to Facebook settings.

Some people stated that it’s more common to come across a snake eating a frog.

One of the group’s moderators, Chris Woolskinny, wrote “Frogs are just stomachs with legs. You’d be amazed what they can put away.”

Feez, the 1-year-old Maremma border collie cross, alerted her owners to a green tree frog devouring a freshwater keelback snake on Tuesday in Logan. It was the second time Feez has alerted her owners to a snake in recent months. Picture: Melissa MacPherson

Mr Woolskinny, who is also listed as a ‘group expert’, also later wrote: “If this (green tree frog) hadn’t gotten it, the keelback would’ve eaten the frog and ignored the toads. Keelbacks only eat toads if nothing else is around.”

Marty Mathews from the Queensland Gemfields area said he was impressed with the frog.

“I’m impressed that he made a point to double it over and speed things up! Smart lil bugger!! (sic),” he wrote.

Jen Weston of Morayfield concurred.

“That is the world’s ballsiest frog,” she wrote underneath the post.

Collection manager for Herpetology at the Queensland Museum, Andrew Amey, said it was more common for snakes to eat frogs.

“Usually it’s the snake following the frog …. Snakes tend to favour eating frogs,” he said.

“Not all snakes, but some, like Red-Bellied Blacks, eat quite a few frogs.

“Keelbacks also do and they’re able to swallow small cane toads.

“They appear to have developed more of a tolerance to (cane toad) toxins.”

Dr Andrew Amey. Picture: Queensland Museum

Dr Amey, 53, of The Gap, said while frogs mostly ate insects, they would also scoff down almost anything that moved.

“Frogs will go for whatever moves around that they will think will fit in their mouth,” he said.

“The frog is just seeing something moving and thinks ‘I’ll have a go at that.’

“It’s movement that triggers their attack.”

The scientist said while a snake would normally be too big for a green tree frog to consider, there were several cases documented over the years, including one from 1932.

“It’s not common but it does happen. We have a preserved specimen (at the museum) of a green tree frog in the act of swallowing a snake,” he said.

“It was also a keelback, so the same species as this one.

“Apparently it was found dead like that.”

It took the green tree frog at least half an hour to swallow the freshwater snake on Tuesday night. Picture: Melissa MacPherson

Dr Amey said that frog possibly choked or was damaged by the snake as it was in the process of being swallowed.

Keelback snakes are Australia’s only non-venomous, semiaquatic snake and can grow up to about one metre with an average length of between 50-75cm, according to experts.

The reptile species often lived near creeks or swamps, while frogs generally lived in more open, dry areas, Dr Amey said.

“Though green tree frogs do live near water when they’re breeding,” he said.

“They come to the water to lay their eggs.”

People in suburbia also often heard green tree frogs in drainpipes when it was raining, he said.

With the rain in the Brisbane region over the past week, Dr Amey said it was possible the reptile had “been venturing out looking for small frogs to eat” before instead becoming the meal.

He said wet nights were “a good time for frogs and frog eating snakes.”

A fat and happy green tree frog after it consumed a keelback snake in Logan on Tuesday night. Picture: Melissa MacPherson

Frogs often used their front hands and their eyes to push prey into their mouths.

“If you look in the roof of the mouth of a frog it’s not all bone – the part where the eyes are is soft,” Dr Amey said.

“They actually use the eyes to push food down further into the throat … that’s part of their swallowing motion.

“They use their hands as well. They use their hands to hold the prey down so they can manipulate it into their mouth.”

The researcher said the advent of smart phones had meant there were more “interesting behaviours” being recorded than ever before.

“The wonderful thing about the modern age is, with everyone having smart phones, people are able to record unusual things they see so they can prove they saw what they saw,” he said.

Originally published as Snake croaks it as green tree frog turns tables and swallows reptile for dinner