Dispatches from the Tropics: 5 June 2012

As snakes go, this one wasn’t very big. Oh, it wasn't a tiddler — there was no mistaking it for an earthworm as it crawled along the kitchen windowsill — but neither was it a rainforest giant. No one was going to make a feature film about it. But what it lacked in size, it made up in attitude.

When I spotted this carpet python last night, I grabbed the camera and went outside. Taking photos is always intrusive, especially with a flash, but I gave the snake plenty of room. I didn't want to disturb it too much. All the other carpet pythons I've photographed around the place have been very placid animals. This one wasn't. I don't know whether the snake felt threatened or was just having a bad day, but one moment I was framing a portrait shot and the next I'm looking down the gullet of a pissed off python. Not only the gullet, but also a healthy pink mouth lined with teeth like this.

It was a most effective example of interspecies communication.

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P.S. See all that mud on the sill and window? Know where that comes from? Possum paws. Sixteen muddy little possum paws.