Venomous Snakes of Udon Thani

Flo wrote:

Brian Davis wrote:

intruder1.jpg

intruder2.jpg

.. Very slow moving, seemed lethargic. It showed no particular urgency to escape me. In fact, seemed to doze off on a couple of occasions. Its' skin maybe not in the best condition.
...

The lady living opposite of us fits into that description perfectly!

Yes, I had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn't the mum-in-law. But she had already arrived, chewing those leaves/paste, a bright red mouth and spitoon to hand!

tomtom24 wrote:Okay, thanks anyway. So I'll show passion and keep on waiting

I guess for someone experienced with snakes it shouldn't be a problem to identify. Only, I don't understand, why I can't find any pictures really similar to our ones on the internet. It not the first time, I see this kind of snake here.

Another nice animal I had to wait 4 years before I've seen it first time (I even asked many people in the past if they have seen already at least once in their life, but nothing). And then it happened. I had this guest about 3 weeks ago in front of our house. Our dogs found it. I think I even not need to say what it is, the photos should say enough

That is one of two nearly identical species of tarantula - it's either a Theraphosa Apophysis (Pink-footed Golaith) or a Theraphosa Blondi (Golaith Birdeater.) They are the largest of all spiders, capable of reaching leg-spans of up to a foot, and weighing up to 7 or 8 ounces iirc. However, I'm 98% sure it is a Golaith Birdeater, as the Pink-Footed Golaith usually has brightly-colored bands on its feet.

Two corrections:

1) The name is Goliath and not Golaith;
2) It's not the largest known spider as the Giant Huntsman spider (Heteropoda maximus) is considered the largest spider. It was discovered in 2001 in Northern Laos and since then many species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong area. Scientists still wonder why such large spiders have been undiscovered so long...

Photo (Wikipedia) Giant Huntsman spider:

Had this little critter in the garden yesterday afternoon.



From what I can gather it is a Banded Kukri. Tried to get the wife to put her hand next to it to get some idea of size.

Galee, you are correct in your identification.

> idea of size

Standard tiles 13"x13" (33x33 cm)?

Driving back to Udon from Suwankuwah the pick up in front of me ran over this guy. I stopped my car and took this picture, it was over 4ft long. I tryed to get a close up of the head but the bloody thing made a strike at me , so with adrenaline running down my legs I got back into my car and went for a well deserved drink... .
Can anyone identify ??

Bill

Billg wrote:

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Driving back to Udon from Suwankuwah the pick up in front of me ran over this guy. I stopped my car and took this picture, it was over 4ft long. I tryed to get a close up of the head but the bloody thing made a strike at me , so with adrenaline running down my legs I got back into my car and went for a well deserved drink... .
Can anyone identify ??

Bill

OT's no expert, but it looks like a snake with a stomach ache.

OT..............

Bill, your snake appears to be Naja siamensis (Siamese Spitting Cobra). The picture which was on the first page does not appear to work anymore and I do not have any of the variation that occurs in that region of Isaan. If you search for pictures of this snake on the internet, you will see many different patterns and colouration.

Thanks Michael for the info , I thought it might have been a brown Rat Snake, But for it to be a spitting Cobra !! I should have got the missus to take the pictures ,

Bill

Sanukjoe, I saw your pic of the Heteropoda Maxima and I am surprised to learn that they are the biggest spiders. I have got heaps of them here and one of them even managed to climb up my leg when having a shower.
I think I was bitten once by a specimen in bed, causing me swelling of my feet the days after.

My question really is : why I have never seen them any bigger than maybe 18 cm (big enough though...) whilst they can as I read on Internet grow up to 30 ?
Or is there a spitting image being a different species ? They are bloody fast, really, but I assume that all of you have them in the house.

Maybe another thread could be opened on ants, especially the small red ones that cause me real discomfort when bitten.

Sorry for the slow response, but I have not checked the forum for a while. The snake is a Xenochrophis flavipunctatus, sometimes referred to as a "Common Keelback". This one should be considered harmless and the most harm they can inflict is some swelling at the point of a bite. There is a very closely related species that looks almost identical and it should also be considered as harmless.

Not all Keelbacks are harmless. There is one genus, Rhabdophis, where the species look more harmless than the Keelback in the picture from the previous post (Xenochrophis flavipunctatus), looking like a European Grass Snake or American Garter Snake in their shape, scales and size, but the snakes of that genus should be considered potentially dangerous. Some of these snakes are docile, but the one to be especially careful around and should be considered dangerous is the Red-necked Keelback- Rhabdophis subminiatus.

Rhabdophis subminiatus:


Late last year, this species of snake put an 11 year old child in ICU for nearly a week and in a normal hospital ward for an additional two weeks. For some reason, the venom appears to have a stronger effect on people of European or half European/half Thai descent than normal Thais; although, I have heard of at least one Thai that had a bad reaction to the venom. The 11 year old child mentioned was half European/half Thai.

I live about 1 hr drive due east along the Mekong from Nong Khai, as the only farang in a well infrastructured village of about 300 people, Two weeks ago when the village was virtually empty of people (rice planting season ), I noticed a little head popping up and down as it moved along the bottom of the patio door, which was fortunately closed at the time. I checked it out and it was a snake about 1.2 M long and 30/40 mm in dia. Its colour was very distinctive, vivid bands/ hoops about 30 mm dia in yellow and green. I kicked the bottom of the door and it disappeared in a flash..a very lively snake. I had asked my wife about the presence of snakes before we moved here, about 3 years ago, and was told..."no have nua in village ".........bit like the philosophy of..." when a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there, does it make a noise ?................
I would like to know what it was, to convince my doubting neighbours and family.
Many thanks.

Found four of these in the house over the last six weeks. Is it likely to be dangerous?
YouTube video: http://youtu.be/X8r3-L1Nb_s

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