Any Boa's In Udon..?

Michael C wrote: Aznyron, that happened in Central or South America. The mongoose was introduced in banana plantations to rid them of venomous snakes. The boa constrictors ate them.

nearly fell off my chair again, funniest thing today......

Kraits NEVER come out during the day unless they are physically removed from their hide.

it was definitely disoriented after i banged it with a hoe a couple times. it was cutting across open yard with kids playing near my cinder block pile. farily easy to see, the stripes give it away. 'never say never' why it was, i don't know, but it never will again. something may have disturbed it, but it wasn't the kids and it definitely had a mission, wasn't lost or disoriented, originally. they are a bit slow moving though, or maybe was just have a bad day before have a worst day after trespassing.

MikeyC ,,, the only thing I can figure is maybe the cobra was defending it's nest and it was the middle of the night. But the Cop told me it kept following him and the dog and everytime he stopped and shown his flashlight back the snake would rise up and go down and continue to follow them. I do know the guy did everything possible to get off perimeter duty after that ,,,

beer monkey wrote:Any Boa's In Udon..?

No boas in Asia, but there are two species of Python that can be found in Udon Thani.

Laphanphon a.k.a. "snake-killer". Could probably make some money moonlighting at this,
If I see a snake I'm running like a sissy and call one of you guys to come deal with it.

bit off topic , but...

can you tell me what this snake is? have lot of them in garden( and much bigger ones) in koh samui

thanks

oho looks very creepy.Where abouts are you on Samui? because I lived there and plan to go back and buy a house in Plai Leam [ near big bhudda] .....

Jeeesussss thats one skinny snake... , looks as if you could snap bits off of it....think i could handle that one.

And nice thread Micheal, very informative and interesting.

MichealC wrote:but there are two species of Python that can be found in Udon Thani.

What lengths would they grow to..?

Biggest snake i ever handled was a 30 foot python. The herpetologist took the head end, i took the tail (he was the expert!), we stretched it out in the lab to measure it. i remember the lab directors secretary looked out of her office to see what was happening, shrieked, slammed her door and blockaded it with a desk for an hour!

Sounds big but this was a very thin species, never more than 6 inches thick.

Another snake story. About a week after i arrived in NT, Australia a mate said he had a snake in his room, wrapped around the curtain rail. I went and caught it with a fishing net (ah the joys of being the biologist, you get all the sh*t animal jobs). As i was new, was not sure of the ID, but 99% certain it was a harmless tree snake. Walked into the canteen and held it up and asked if anyone knew what type of snake it was. Never seen 3 tough looking, Dundee style territorrians run so fast! Was a harmless tree snake of course.

We only had one person bitten by a deadly snake while i was there (death adder); he had a sticky night waiting for the air ambulance next day, but survived. He was a bit stupid walking around at night in a bush camp wearing sandals.

Could probably make some money moonlighting at this

no thanks, i am pretrified of them. my 'snake knife' is a butcher knife i screwed onto a 2 meter pole. i don't get close to them. that last one almost got me, they can extend damn near 50% of their body legnth on a good jump, especially when knowing it was a do or die jump. and who ever said they can't outurn humans, they are wrong also. ok, i'm no speed demon. but a different one was sunbathing on the window sill to the glass room, Gem noticed and said snake on window, giving me mild heart attack until realized it was outside. this should be too easy, open space, all concrete or stown retaining wall but all exposed, no hiding spots. i peeked around the corner, he jumped and took off. i couldn't keep up, but the time i got to the sala, he was already in the top, hiding on the beams, smart sucker, though just a little to fat to hide. one nice stab, and the damn think jumps down and beelines for a rather larger spare cinder block pile, as in 2 x 3 meters stacked shoulder height. see him go behind but not come out. hmm, more a bag of cement on top of pile and he slithers by. another heart attack. the center of pile is a bit hollow, so he climbed up and hid down................................ok, where that freshly filled gas container for cutting the grass?

damn, this think doesn't scare easy, emptied it into the blocks...................oh well, flame on. ah there is, that familiar bbq sound of snap crackle pop. what a mess. had to repaint about 4 meter legnth of wall, as block was close to that and now charred black. one well done snake.

hey MC, that krait, was a krait, looked at pics again, and at pics it says it gets confused with, and nothing close. the house was built in dec/jan, so not exactly hot out, but no mistake, one less krait in the village. obviously if he was playing day dormant, something motivated for a stroll.

farang wrote:bit off topic , but...
can you tell me what this snake is? have lot of them in garden( and much bigger ones) in koh samui

That snake is Dryocalamus, a Bridle Snake, a completely harmless snake. There are two species that it could be, but it would take a closer examination of the snake to get the identification to the species, which is either Dryocalamus davisonii (Common Bridle Snake) or Dryocalamus subannulatus (Malayan Bridle Snake). There is yet another snake that looks similar to it in our area Lycodon fasciatus (Yellow Banded Wolf Snake), which has a heavier body and could be easily mistaken as a krait . Lycodon fasciatus is the species that LA probably saw. The first thing a krait does in the daylight on grass is bury its nose under the grass and try to get underground; I have quite a bit of experience with these snakes. While living in California, people from Lao would be shocked and swear that my Lampropeltis getula californiae (California Kingsnake) were kraits and ask me why I would keep such a dangerous snake in the house. Yet another species mistaken as a krait is Dinodon septentrionale; this species looks so much like a krait, that another herpetologist and I took extreme caution capturing it because we initially thought it was a krait.

Two pythons that can be found in the Udon Thani province:
Python reticulatus (Reticulated Python). Maximum size purportedly to 10m. This one can be found almost anywhere, including around human habitation and within city limits to include in the middle of Bangkok (always a favourite Thai TV news story). Gray background colour with a black net (reticulated) pattern with yellow.
Python molurus bivittatus (Burmese Python/Asian Rock Python). Size up to 6m. The largest that I have seen in the field is 4m. This python usually is not found in cities and prefers forests.
When I was living in Pathum Thani, both species lived just outside the neighbourhood, but this area was only recently developed and I would expect Python molurus bivittatus to slowly disappear from that area.

that LA probably saw

sorry, once again, and last time, there is NO mistake in what i saw and killed. this one in a million noctornal krait must of been on xanax and on a walk about. though more probable was, it was disturbed from it's daytime resting place, i'll give you that, but since nothing but all open dirt, he didn't have much choice but to cross and find a new hiding spot, but spotted before hand.

You know over the years I do I beleive I have ran across the first critter many times. But not in a village. Had no idea it was a Cobra. Good information, I have only had two in my homes over the years. hat enough don't need anymore thank yuo.

Michael C wrote: That snake is Dryocalamus, a Bridle Snake, a completely harmless snake. There are two species that it could be, but it would take a closer examination of the snake to get the identification to the species, which is either Dryocalamus davisonii (Common Bridle Snake) or Dryocalamus subannulatus (Malayan Bridle Snake). There is yet another snake that looks similar to it in our area Lycodon fasciatus (Yellow Banded Wolf Snake), which has a heavier body and could be easily mistaken as a krait . Lycodon fasciatus is the species that LA probably saw.

many thanks Michael C =D> =D>

the photo above of that snake can easily crawl in to your house coming through the front door but under it not through it so what is the answer if your home is ground level ? my reply is get your self interlocking threshold that should keep them out but what about sliders they can squeeze through the sides
BTW is what I have for front doors maybe I will get a mongoose keep it in front of the door
if it gone the next morning I know a python got it
I also heard if you keep ducks around the house snakes don't come that does not seem possible to me but I am open to information

farang wrote:bit off topic , but...

can you tell me what this snake is? have lot of them in garden( and much bigger ones) in koh samui

thanks

Saw one like this last week except it was a bright green color. Wife ran in and said this snake was up a tree and wanted me to get rid of it. Went outside and knocked the snake out of the tree. It took off like a rocket. Never saw a snake move this fast. Cornered it and was trying to flip it outside with a long stick when the wife came rushing past with a hoe and smacked it in the head. Stone dead. It had a tiny head, very thin body with tongue flicking. Thought it was probably a nonpoisonous tree snake.

Well, you guys opened a can of snakes, er, worms, with this topic so I get to tell my favorite Thailand snake tales. While working at Ramasun when it was Tent City back in 1967, our Thai minibus driver came up with a baby cobra somehow and it got loose in the minibus. Lunchtime came and word spread amongst the workers so we all piled into the sedan that we also had. No one bothered telling our supervisor, Ken *****, who was disliked by the workers so he got into the minibus with the driver and off they went down the road. No one got bit but the supervisor was pretty pissed after lunch when he saw the Thai driver removing all of the seats from the minibus before catching the critter. Heard later that Ramasun was built on a Cobra swamp.

Another time, we were going up a hill in the minibus to one of our tropospheric comm sites near Sattahip when we ran across and over a snake that stretched all the way across the two lane road. All these years I was under the impression that the snake was a individual Cobra but after reading in here I guess it might have been a python. Whatever, it just continued across the road into the brush.

Then there was the night that I stomped on a two-headed krait at the bottom of the steps in my bungalow.....

Polehawk, there are two bright green snakes that can be found around the Udon Thani area, other than the green tree vipers that were pictured. If it is not the green tree vipers pictured, it is not dangerous. Both of the others are rear fanged, but their venom is so weak, it will not cause any harm to humans, other than a little swelling, like from a bee sting (if that much).

This is Chysopelea ornata (Golden Tree Snake or Flying Snake).

The snake pictured was just on the other side of the Udon Thani-Nong Bua Lamphu boundary. It is often referred to as a 'Flying Snake' because it often springs from branch to branch and it has a limited ability to glide by spreading its ribs to increase air resistance. It is a very fast snake with an exceptional climbing ability; keels on the ventral scales allow it to grip surfaces that most other species would not be able to. It is among the most common snakes in Thailand. There have been a couple trying to gain entry into my home in Pathum Thani.

This is Ahaetulla prasina (Oriental Whip Snake)

This snake is found throughout Thailand is is very common, but because it is almost always in the bushes and matches in so well, not many people see it. It can move fast, but usually moves rather slowly through the bushes waving its body from side to side to mimic branches moving from side to side from a breeze flowing through the bushes.

Snakes in Trees....No Thank You...
Great Photo of The Oriental whip Snake, by the way, the colourings and patterns on all these snakes are fantastic ...but would it be so menacing if it was pink with long eye-lashes i wonder.. .

(Look forward to more photos as and when Micheal.C)