Venomous Snakes of Udon Thani

by **polehawk** » February 4, 2010, 1:41 pm

Hard to judge its size from the photos but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it must be a nonvenomous ratsnake (since you cut a rat out of its guts). :-k

Michael C will probably ID it definitively when he returns to the thread, however.

by **onionluke** » February 4, 2010, 2:56 pm

Hi Joe ,
thanks for your reply . I will take care with this one and try let it go . I still get a scare when I see snakes . My wife has called it a " moo pla " wich is close to rainbow water snake . I will contribute to this forum in the future .
thanks
Luke

by **Michael C** » February 5, 2010, 8:17 am

Joe is getting pretty good at this. It is an Enhydris enhydris (Rainbow Water Snake). The vernacular name in Thai is also the same- งูสายรุ้ง (Ngu Sai Rung= Rainbow Snake), due to the coloured stripes along its ventral surface and in some localities dorsal surface also. งูปลา (Ngu Pla) is a colloquial name that best describes the entire genus of Enhydris, probably to describe what they feed on primarily- ปลา=fish.

Although it has a very mild venom, the venom has never had a documented effect on people= ants have a much more potent venom. It is such an inoffensive snake, it can be just picked right up and moved away. I suppose if you somehow forced its mouth onto your finger, since they don't bite, and somehow made it chew on your finger, there would be some swelling

Since there are not so many small fish around this area, it may be feeding on small frogs (Microhyla spp.)

Since no venomous snakes here in Northeastern Thailand (Issan) are striped on the back, it is safe to assume snakes with stripes on the back in this region are harmless (DOES NOT APPLY TO SOUTHERN THAILAND!). There is still one snake that I have been told about, but have yet to see or identify that has a reddish zig-zag pattern on its back; this is more of a zig-zag pattern rather than a stripe.

by **SanukJoe** » February 5, 2010, 11:52 am

Michael C wrote:Joe is getting pretty good at this. The student thanks the Master

Since no venomous snakes here in Northeastern Thailand (Issan) are striped on the back, it is safe to assume snakes with stripes on the back in this region are harmless (DOES NOT APPLY TO SOUTHERN THAILAND!). There is still one snake that I have been told about, but have yet to see or identify that has a reddish zig-zag pattern on its back; this is more of a zig-zag pattern rather than a stripe.

Michael I think this needs some clarification. I call a (very venomous) Krait striped but I think you call it differently.
Maybe all non-specialists call stripes stripes even if they are bands or other named pattern.
I don't like to think of someone picking up a Krait thinking it is harmless as it has stripes.

Please enlighten us.

Joe

by **SanukJoe** » February 5, 2010, 12:03 pm

onionluke wrote:Hi Joe ,
thanks for your reply . I will take care with this one and try let it go . I still get a scare when I see snakes . My wife has called it a " moo pla " wich is close to rainbow water snake . I will contribute to this forum in the future .
thanks
Luke

Hi Luke

I'm not scared of snakes but after I nearly died of a snake bite I am very careful with them.

After Michael started this very informative thread and gives us accurate info each time a snake is spotted I feel by knowing more and more about snakes you are more relaxed when seeing one. With Michael's help I'm now able to determine quite some snakes I encounter and the harmless ones can live on without attempt to kill them. The venomous ones, if too close to the house, will be killed as I'm not that courageous to put them in a cotton bag and rehome them

Joe

by **Michael C** » February 5, 2010, 6:11 pm

For clarification, what I meant by striped is a long narrow marking lengthwise with the body, as opposed to banding which would mean narrow markings going across the width of the body. On page one, you see Bungarus spp. (Kraits) and Ophiophagus hannah (King Cobra in Isaan) with banded markings: narrow markings across the width of the body. For the last snake pictured, we see stripes both on the dorsal (back) side and the ventral (underneath) side of the snake- narrow markings going the width of the body.

I am in the process of leaving Udon Thani as the place I spend most of my time (will still probably spend more time in Udon Thani than many that post here), but when I am around, I will be more than happy to relocate venomous snakes from someone's property. I have done this dozens of times with Naja kaouthia (Monocled Cobra) outside of Bangkok when I was living there, but the only time someone has called on me in the Udon Thani area, the snake, a suspected Naja siamensis (Indo-Chinese Spitting Cobra) was already gone

by **SanukJoe** » February 6, 2010, 11:11 am

Michael thanks for the clarification, very clear.

Joe

by **onionluke** » February 8, 2010, 2:57 pm

Hello Chaps ,

I killed this one at the back door . It was a bit of a fighter and actually jumped at the hoe a couple of times . The only note my wife gave was that it was an unlucky snake .I would apreciate any info on this snake for future encounters , hopefully non fatal .
Cheers Luke

by **SanukJoe** » February 9, 2010, 11:03 am

Hi Luke

I would go for the Indochinese Rat snake but let's wait for Master Michael's expertise.

If I'm right the snake was harmless and your wife was right: unlucky snake, although I don't know if she meant the snake or the encounter :lol:

Your hoe looks like a rat? Could be the reason for the snake to jump at it.....

Joe

by **SanukJoe** » February 9, 2010, 12:31 pm

Hi Luke

After looking into my references I would change my earlier guess.

I strongly believe it's a Common Keelback, based on the stripes behind the eye and neck.
It also explains the behaviour as these Keelbacks behave like a Cobra and try to bite... but they are not venomous.

Eager to Michael's clarification... :-k

Joe

by **onionluke** » February 9, 2010, 3:03 pm

Hi Joe ,

Thanks for your help and input . This a brill forum .
Cheers .
Luke

by **SanukJoe** » February 10, 2010, 1:33 pm

onionluke wrote:Hi Joe ,

Thanks for your help and input . This a brill forum .
Cheers .
Luke

Bor pen yang Luke!

Just a tip re pics: take a close shot of the head, top and side. Also the top of the back. Much easier for determination.

Joe

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