Cobra In My Compost Heap

[mobile69]

I was cutting grass growing around the edge of my compost heap this afternoon, with my petrol bushwacker & was bending down to pull a trail of pumpkins away from the pile to grow away from it when just in front of me a section of snake was moving - you could only see about 10cm square window in the grass cuttings. Dark grey & about as thick as 3 fingers. Leapt back to a safer distance & it disappeared into the pile. Pretty sure it was a cobra. Didn't have my hand on the throttle for the wacker or I could have sliced him / her in 2. Now what to do? I guess it's nesting in the warmth of the compost. Half an hour earlier I'd been shovelling compost out from the base on the other side of the heap, & even scooping up the black stuff with my hands!!!

Any advice on how to encourage the snake to leave before we rake the pile flat & investigate further? Fortunately the compost heap is as far from the house as possible, about 70m. I guess I now understand why the locals burn all their grass cuttings....

[lazeeboy]

I was cutting grass growing around the edge of my compost heap this afternoon, with my petrol bushwacker & was bending down to pull a trail of pumpkins away from the pile to grow away from it when just in front of me a section of snake was moving - you could only see about 10cm square window in the grass cuttings. Dark grey & about as thick as 3 fingers. Leapt back to a safer distance & it disappeared into the pile. Pretty sure it was a cobra. Didn't have my hand on the throttle for the wacker or I could have sliced him / her in 2. Now what to do? I guess it's nesting in the warmth of the compost. Half an hour earlier I'd been shovelling compost out from the base on the other side of the heap, & even scooping up the black stuff with my hands!!!

Any advice on how to encourage the snake to leave before we rake the pile flat & investigate further? Fortunately the compost heap is as far from the house as possible, about 70m. I guess I now understand why the locals burn all their grass cuttings....

ask a vet or get a thai man to catch it ,heard they taste nice ,the man will eat it once he catches it .

[Gary A]

Cobras are very shy and do their best to stay out of the way. It's not likely that anyone could catch one unless it was cornered and if cornered they will try to protect themselves. We have a fairly large one in the garden back of the house. We see it once in a while but it makes itself scarce quickly. I like to have snakes around for rodent control but snakes other than cobras are much preferred. The point being is that they are really not much of a threat to people.

[Bpraim1]

Best snake I've seen is a dead one! To bad Steve'ys Gone! Could have called him over to catch it.

I almost need a brown paper bag to breathe into just talking about snakes!

I know it is wrong, but I say start up the wipper snipper, and spank it!

[lazeeboy]

Best snake I've seen is a dead one! To bad Steve'ys Gone! Could have called him over to catch it.

I almost need a brown paper bag to breathe into just talking about snakes!

I know it is wrong, but I say start up the wipper snipper, and spank it!

had a very small ,maybe 1 metre in the garden last week ,threw boiling water over it ,didnt die ,drop a piece of ply on it ,died.

[Thaicoon]

I had this problem with Cobras in my garden, got a big pile of rocks to build a pond, they have made home there, now vacated, how long, do not know.

4 options.

Mothballs ( if available in Thailand ) or get someone to bring you a box from the uk, they work.

Sulpher

Diesel

Plant Lemongrass Snakes hate this stuff, i was told this by a Thai but never tried it, also Vinegar works with ants so you could try that.

[TBWG]

I was cutting grass growing around the edge of my compost heap this afternoon, with my petrol bushwacker & was bending down to pull a trail of pumpkins away from the pile to grow away from it when just in front of me a section of snake was moving - you could only see about 10cm square window in the grass cuttings. Dark grey & about as thick as 3 fingers. Leapt back to a safer distance & it disappeared into the pile. Pretty sure it was a cobra. Didn't have my hand on the throttle for the wacker or I could have sliced him / her in 2. Now what to do? I guess it's nesting in the warmth of the compost. Half an hour earlier I'd been shovelling compost out from the base on the other side of the heap, & even scooping up the black stuff with my hands!!!

Any advice on how to encourage the snake to leave before we rake the pile flat & investigate further? Fortunately the compost heap is as far from the house as possible, about 70m. I guess I now understand why the locals burn all their grass cuttings....

Hi

If a snake is in the compost heap it is possible it is looking for somewhere to lay its eggs (assuming Cobra are egg layers and not live bearers).

My only experience of this is coming across some rubbery eggshells in the compost heap in the UK. This was a grass snake and obviously a different issue to a Cobra. Although it does not sound as though you are 100% sure of its make

Myself I always keep quite when I see a snake as the families immediate response is to give it a ###### good thrashing, whereas I am all for live and let live.

If it was my compost heap first of all I would look on the web and find out if Cobras are egg layers if so do they just lay and then leave the heat from the heap to incubate the young. If so then the snake could be long gone. I would also check if young ones are harmful if not I would then leave well alone.

However this may not be an option if you have young kids around.

TBWG

s

[Tim207]

If it was my compost heap first of all I would look on the web and find out if Cobras are egg layers if so do they just lay and then leave the heat from the heap to incubate the young. If so then the snake could be long gone. I would also check if young ones are harmful if not I would then leave well alone.

However this may not be an option if you have young kids around.

TBWG

s

I am not an expert but I can answer some of these question. Cobras do lay eggs. I believe they protect the nest but am not sure of this. Babbies emerge from the egg with fangs and enough venom to kill a man.

I don't know how to get rid of them but I o know they can be tasty.

[colino]

just make lots of noise with some thing like a stereo with the bass turned up snakes hate vibration or leave your mower ticking over next to the pile ,early evening is best so the snake will feel safe moving off

[mobile69]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty sure it's a cobra - much too thick for the usual snakes we get around the garden. Too far from the house to lug the speakers to scare it away with some heavy bass. Planning to take a non aggressive approach & try to persuade it to leave. Will leave lawn mower running next to the pile, & use a very long poled rake to try & flatten the heap.

What's the deal with the diesel? is it the smell or am I supposed to throw a lit rag on to it?

[stevenjm]

Only cobras Ive seen have been a bone clolor, not sure about dark grey being a cobra. Anyway they are viscious and flare their heads and attack any fast movement.

advice: go to koh kong and buy a hand grenade.

Edited September 21, 2007 by stevenjm

[mobile69]

Only cobras Ive seen have been a bone clolor, not sure about dark grey being a cobra. Anyway they are viscious and flare their heads and attack any fast movement.

advice: go to koh kong and buy a hand grenade.

I have a good book on snakes in Thailand & it shows various colours for cobras, including dark grey.

Book is "a photographic guide to snakes & other reptiles of Thailand & SE Asia". A great pocket sized book to keep handy while gardening

[pete_r]

Talking of books... This thread reminds me of a famous story about cobras and mongoose.

http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/au...itikkitavi.html

[Thaicoon]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty sure it's a cobra - much too thick for the usual snakes we get around the garden. Too far from the house to lug the speakers to scare it away with some heavy bass. Planning to take a non aggressive approach & try to persuade it to leave. Will leave lawn mower running next to the pile, & use a very long poled rake to try & flatten the heap.

What's the deal with the diesel? is it the smell or am I supposed to throw a lit rag on to it?

Just poor some around the bin, it is the smell, you can buy Snake repelent, but not sure if available in Thailand, do a search.

[track61]

I had this problem with Cobras in my garden, got a big pile of rocks to build a pond, they have made home there, now vacated, how long, do not know.

4 options.

Mothballs ( if available in Thailand ) or get someone to bring you a box from the uk, they work.

Sulpher

Diesel

Plant Lemongrass Snakes hate this stuff, i was told this by a Thai but never tried it, also Vinegar works with ants so you could try that.

Moth balls work. When I lived in the States I had a huge problem with rattlesnakes getting in my firewood rack during the summer and then hibernating there. Not a good first fire of autumn when you wake up a sleeping rattler gathering the wood, believe me. A local said, "moth balls". I used them and never had another snake. Since then I have probably bought 20 tons of them to use under containers and in material yards of many job sites from New Mexico to Saudi to PNG. Can't prove it was the moth balls but I have never had any snake induced lost time, which would have included heart attacks amongst some of the people that worked for me had they come face to face with a carpet viper or such.

[ashacat]

had a very small ,maybe 1 metre in the garden last week ,threw boiling water over it ,didnt die ,drop a piece of ply on it ,died.

Did you used to pull the wings off flies?

[KhaoNiaw]

Only cobras Ive seen have been a bone clolor, not sure about dark grey being a cobra.

Had a cobra in our kitchen once - very dark, almost black.

[mobile69]

Just had another sighting. Decided to burn the pile of twigs, bamboo cuttings etc, adjacent to the compost heap, just in case that was a suitable nesting site too. It was a bit damp from the rain, but what the h#ck, have to burn sometimes here in Chiang Mai or they revoke your visa

As it smoked, there it was, a couple of metres away heading to the irrigation canal. Less than 1 metre long, dark grey.

Will get some diesel later & put around compost heap.

[TBWG]

Just had another sighting. Decided to burn the pile of twigs, bamboo cuttings etc, adjacent to the compost heap, just in case that was a suitable nesting site too. It was a bit damp from the rain, but what the h#ck, have to burn sometimes here in Chiang Mai or they revoke your visa

As it smoked, there it was, a couple of metres away heading to the irrigation canal. Less than 1 metre long, dark grey.

Will get some diesel later & put around compost heap.

Hi

Glad it is resolved without any injuries to either side

TBWG

[stevenjm]

Just had another sighting. Decided to burn the pile of twigs, bamboo cuttings etc, adjacent to the compost heap, just in case that was a suitable nesting site too. It was a bit damp from the rain, but what the h#ck, have to burn sometimes here in Chiang Mai or they revoke your visa

As it smoked, there it was, a couple of metres away heading to the irrigation canal. Less than 1 metre long, dark grey.

Will get some diesel later & put around compost heap.

Hi

Glad it is resolved without any injuries to either side

TBWG

Next time poke it with a stick and tell us if it flares its head or not. BTW diesel will ruin your compost.

[chownah]

How does this relate to farming?

Just wondering...I really can't see the connection.

[youngkiwi]

Throwing boiling water over a snake is not only cruel, it is considered inhumane.

[C-sip-degree]

So I think I have got it great stuff for Me and the OP

But wait…you guys have missed one thing.

Remember after pouring the large circle of diesel around your compost area, and setting up the loudest sub woofer arrangement playing Linkin Park (In the End) you can supply power too.

‘Don’t forget to tie up the un-fed mongoose with a dog chain in the middle of the heap’.

I think now you’ll be covered, so pull out the garden chair quickly sit down and crack the cold six pack.

Let the games begin.

Regards

C-sip

[Chrubble]

I just had my second Cobra in my house last night. It's frog/toad season, and my house is full of these cobra snacks. Same time last year, I found a big green one in my house. I tried killing it, but the flimsy knife I put on the end of a long stick just bent as the muscular snake slithered behind the dresser in my bedroom. My neighbors finally managed to bash the !@#$ out of it with a 3m bamboo pole. This year, the greyish/brown ninja snake flowed like water over my tile searching for an exit. He was frustrated by my screen doors and disappeared under the desk in my office as I ran for help. We never found him. All night I had nightmares in which I was attempting to kill the snake. I woke up after the last one with a stinging pain in my knee.

Thanks for the advice above, I'll put down some moth balls and vinegar. I won't play any music though, since I only know they're there by the hissing and spitting.

[Wrong Turn]

I just had my second Cobra in my house last night. It's frog/toad season, and my house is full of these cobra snacks. Same time last year, I found a big green one in my house. I tried killing it, but the flimsy knife I put on the end of a long stick just bent as the muscular snake slithered behind the dresser in my bedroom. My neighbors finally managed to bash the !@#$ out of it with a 3m bamboo pole. This year, the greyish/brown ninja snake flowed like water over my tile searching for an exit. He was frustrated by my screen doors and disappeared under the desk in my office as I ran for help. We never found him. All night I had nightmares in which I was attempting to kill the snake. I woke up after the last one with a stinging pain in my knee.

Thanks for the advice above, I'll put down some moth balls and vinegar. I won't play any music though, since I only know they're there by the hissing and spitting.

Forgive my ignorance but when I Cobra goes into your own house it can smell a human(s) right? This means the cobra is not intimidated by humans or avoids them.

This give me the creeps.

If it bit you, would it kill you?

[Sakeopete]

We had an Indochinese spitting cobra in grandma's bathroom I did kill it but only because my kids were sleeping in the next room and my wife was pregnant my paranoia took over my better judgment. I regret it now because the snake was not aggressive, it did spit venom on my glasses but only because I was trying to catch it. In India cobras are allowed to live in the homes and bites are virtually non existent. The disease carrying rodents are far more dangerous than the docile cobra. I have known many keepers of Cobras in Canada and the US and while bites have occurred it was only when handling them carelessly. I will never kill another snake again in the future if one takes residence in my home I will persuade it to leave.

http://www.karamanosfamily.com/images/SpittingCobra1.jpg

http://www.karamanosfamily.com/images/SpittingCobra3.jpg

[phaethon]

Okay, so the recipe is: Take a mongoose, soak it in diesel, pour a litre of vinegar down its throat and ram half a dozen mothballs up its arse. Hang a ghetto blaster around its neck, chain it to the top of the heap and tell it to mow the lawn.

Simple.

[ozzydom]

Okay, so the recipe is: Take a mongoose, soak it in diesel, pour a litre of vinegar down its throat and ram half a dozen mothballs up its arse. Hang a ghetto blaster around its neck, chain it to the top of the heap and tell it to mow the lawn.

Simple.

[Maizefarmer]

In the compost heap - good chance this is a female looking for somewhere to lay eggs, or has just laid them.

She'll be very defensive if there are eggs, so be ultra careful.

Compost heaps are very popular incubators for Cobra's

Please do your best to move it/have it moved with having it killed - then check the compost heap for the eggs, and if any, move the eggs with her.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Maizefarmer

[zorro1]

A fishing rod, 50kg line and a live rat. wait until his half way down before striking, then reel him in same as catching an eel but different