Python Attacks Box Turtle 01

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The burmese python has been incubating her eggs for five weeks now. All together it will take 60 days for the hatchlings to fully develop. During night time when the temperature drops, she will have to stay constantly coiled around the eggs to keep them warm. But night time is also the time when most predators are on the hunt for food and tonight she seems alert and nervous. Investigating the smallest movement near her nest until she discovers something lurking in the darkness.

With a swift bite she tries to scare off the intruder, a harmless Florida box turtle.
The box turtle is endemic to Florida. Its distinct shell with a hinged plastron offers ample protection from most predators. After recovering from the python’s attack, the turtle continues searching for food and purposefully cruising around the snake’s lair. Finally, the turtle decides to move in with the large python. But the snake won’t have non of it and blocks the entrance, which doesn’t stop the turtle at all.

Gopher tortoises share their burrows frequently with many snakes, including the venomous easter diamondback rattlesnake. But the python has to protect her eggs and the sharp claws of the turtle could easily damage them. At the moment she has no choice and accepts unwillingly the turtle’s intrusion. Soon the python grows agitated again, when the turtles scuffles with the bufo toad which moved in two weeks prior. The toad wants the turtle gone and so does the snake.

Relentlessly pushing and showing, the python finally is able to remove the turtle from its lair. The toad is wasting no time and returns to the safety of the den immediately. Turtles can be willful creatures and this one has a mind of her own. Nevertheless, a strike from a furious python settles the matter once and for all. The indigenous turtle got the message from the invasive species and moves on through the night to find shelter at a more placid location.

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