Incredible footage has captured a highly venomous snake eating a seemingly live lizard in the waves of a Sunshine Coast beach.
Little Mountain resident Alan Myburgh was at Ballinger Beach dog area at Currimundi on Tuesday afternoon, when he spotted an eastern brown snake feasting on what appears to be a blue-tongue lizard.
Mr Myburgh posted the amazing footage to social media, along with his own unique commentary. It shows the snake wrapped around the lizard and being washed with waves, before it eats it whole and slithers away through the dunes.
Scroll down to see the videos. The content may be distressing to some viewers.
“Eastern brown snake having a spot of lunch, fricassee of rare lizard, with a smattering of sea salt, I believe,” he wrote.
“Restaurant Chez De Ballinger Beach … five-star reviews everywhere!”
But he also acknowledged the more serious side of the encounter.
“All joking aside, I nearly stepped on the sucker,” he wrote.
“Old mate from the snake catchers said he probably chased the blue-tongue and finally caught up with it at the water’s edge.
“If you watch along (I know it’s a bit lengthy), but he finally moves up the beach and finishes the feed. Then off into the dunes.
“There were very few folks around, it was middle of the arvo, the tide was low, but it was very blowy.
“Not something you see every day, I’ll tell you that.”
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Speaking with Sunshine Coast News, Mr Myburgh said at first he didn’t realise what was happening.
“I was walking in the wash of the water … and I thought it was a stump at first and so I nearly stepped on the thing,” he said.
“I thought people take their dogs down there, it’s probably worthwhile (posting it online) because they’ll see a bit of entertainment value in it, but also to let them know to be careful with their dogs running around there.”
The digital content creator, 46, walks from Moffat Beach to Currimundi at least once a day. When he saw the snake and lizard he used his phone to take the footage.
“When I saw the opportunity I thought, ‘You’ve got to film this’,” he said.
He said the lizard had lost its tail but appeared to still be alive when it was devoured by the snake.
“It seemed like it was still kicking and (the snake) was holding onto it,” he said.
“I was pretty sure that it was venomous but I wasn’t 100 per cent sure. I’d read something before about the small-headed ones (being dangerous), and this definitely wasn’t like a diamond-headed python.”
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Afterwards he took a photo from his video and sent it to a local snake catcher, who confirmed it was an eastern brown snake.
Mr Myburgh said he also got footage of a “monstrous” carpet python in the water at the same beach a few months ago.
He said his main reason for taking and sharing the footage was to warn beach-goers.
“It’s all just borne out of the fact so people don’t lose dogs and people don’t get injured,” he said.
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