Snake Infestation

[pnustedt]

My wife has been telling me that there is an infestation of snakes in her village (particularly Cobras and King Cobras). Two children are now in hospital after being bitten in their sleep and people in the village have now taken to wearing protective clothing in bed.

Does anyone know of a snake repellant?

[SK1972]

When I was at camp, we used to sprinkle sulphur around our tents to keep the snakes out..........

[siam]

Get a couple of mongooses,Don't know whether they have them in Los though.

[SK1972]

No Siam, they do not have mongooses in TH!! I did think about it but there just arent any here...................maybe he can import them!!

[penzman]

Importing mongoose will only create other problems as was done in other parts of the world ages ago. I remember Barbados was infested with them...

[Wolfie]

Powdered Sulphur is supposed to work, friend of mine uses it and swears by it.

Pretty easy to get hold of, just ask in your local hardware shop

(ask for snake powder if they dont know what sulphur is)

its a yellowy powder, a bit like talc (or the stuff ive seen is)

hope that helps

[DJ Pat]

There's an electronic repellant that you plug into the power and it gives off a really low sound that we cannot hear. They run / slither a mile apparently.

When I lived in the middle of nowhere amongst the palm trees where there was known to be many cobras,locals suggested that I keep my sub-bass woofer on my hi-fi plugged in because it gave off a low sound that they hated.

[NedKelly]

A 12 gauge helps !

[Wolfie]

Merecats are supposed to work also.

just spoke to a friend of mine about this, shes quite knowledgable on this kinda stuff, shes basically said kill them. Cobras mate for life, can have upto 40 babies and generally hang around the 'nest' for a long time, so they can become a problem. her opinion (not mine) is to basically exterminate them.

Is there a local snake farm nearby? you might be able to recruit them into helping you out with this problem as most snake farms are always eager to get hold of cobra venom (used in the anti-venom). I know one of the local snake farms round by my way will actually pay you if they are able to get a king cobra, what a service!

"Hey ive got a cobra in my house"

"Be right there"

10 minutes later

"Right weve got the snake, theres 200baht for letting us catch it!"

Amazing!

[IamMaiC]

A 12 gauge helps !

That will always solve any problem

[Axel]

Powdered Sulphur is supposed to work, friend of mine uses it and swears by it.

Try ducks, their excrement has the same power as sulphur.

Actually, I did it once, got for ourselves 3 ducks to get rid of the snakes.

Turned out the ducks were not powerful enough, our neighbour farmer advised it should be 200 for the size of the area.

[axl]

Mustela putorius - I think you call them ferret or polecat in English - will work; but also don't know if they are native in Thailand.

what would eat a snake?

Do you have Chinese friends?

Newsbeat:

"Some snake and turtle species are key ingredients in popular dishes in China and are also used to make traditional medicines. In March, customs officials seized some 4,000 live snakes packed in air cargo crates destined for China. A customs official said the smuggling appeared to be a symptom of the economic difficulties in Asia. "Before, Chinese tourists used to come to Thailand to eat snakes and turtles. Now many can't afford to come so the reptiles are sent to them."

[chuchok]

Believe it or not, domestic cats sort more snakes than the other way round. Had 3 snakes around my house in Chiang Mai over the past 6 months....all killed by cats..go figure.

[pnustedt]

Tks a lot for all your help. I think I'll get them to try the sulphur first.

I'm not aware of a snake farm nearby but the area has always been full of snakes. A couple of yrs ago I parked on a cobra's nest with a load of kids. They all screamed and jumped back into the car my wife was yelling at me pointing to the ground - then I saw them, probably a dozen tiny snakes swirling around my ankles. I'm not talking about the odd one in the house - they're everywhere.

18 months ago there was talk of a croc being sighted a mile downriver from a plot where we are going to build our house, we were excited that we may get one. However, I was walking across the land and saw an enormous snake which could have easily swallowed a small croc - so I guess that's why there aren't any on our land. The spot where I saw the snake is now the spot where we are going to build - apparently it is a good omen!

I don't think I'll try importing mongooses (isn't the plural of mongoose mongeese?). I agree with the comments about importing predators affecting indigenous wildlife, guess the same applies to merecats, ferets, polecats, etc.

There's loads of ducks around already so they don't seem to make a lot of difference.

Cats may also eat the poultry but there a couple of small ones next door.

I also worry that the problem could get worse once they start harvesting the rice and the snakes leave the fields.

Got a lot of Chinese friends, also I don't mind eating snake - especially cooked with sweet and sour source.

The locals seem to believe that the snakes are ghosts or something and they are here to take people who shouldn't have been born yet - anyway, it's beyond me!

[LadyinRed]

Snake blood makes a great vodka cocktail.

If you kill the snake and feel bad, preserve it in a jar of rice wine - adds more body to the wine - the longer, the better. Taste iffy but you feel the difference in seconds! Plus it makes a great house decoration.

OK sulfur or cats are your best bet.

I was also told that snakes hate movements and noises, so crank up that stereo and rock away all day + night.

[IamMaiC]

I've never seen a King Cobra. Is it bigger than a regular cobra?

[SK1972]

IamMaic............King Cobras are much bigger, usually black and they usually "spit" to blind their prey/victims.

They usually attack upright. Go to the fields once in a while..............you may be lucky

[IamMaiC]

IamMaic............King Cobras are much bigger, usually black and they usually "spit" to blind their prey/victims.

They usually attack upright. Go to the fields once in a while..............you may be lucky

Ahhhhh, NO had a run in with a very big scorpion taking a shower at my wife's home in udon thani That's enough of a meeting for me of Thailand's wildlife

[Axel]

Sorry, made a mistake, not ducks but GEESE.

But as said, you need many.

[IamMaiC]

IamMaic............King Cobras are much bigger, usually black and they usually "spit" to blind their prey/victims.

They usually attack upright. Go to the fields once in a while..............you may be lucky

Hey I thought you liked me

[pnustedt]

not ducks but GEESE.

Yes, sounds good - they make good guard "dogs" too I understand. I'll get some.

[p1p]

Mongoose are common in Thailand, certainly in the North. We have at least three families living close to our home. One of them killed a rat snake I caught and brought home to get rid of a rat infestation. So they are not in my good books ar present.

As you will gather from the above, (non-poisonous) snakes are welcome guests around my house. We suffer a lot of damage from rats and mice. Our cats and dogs have little effect but resident snakes keep them in check.

Generally, all snakes will run away in preference to attacking. Just be vigilant and move away if you see one. You will be OK.

Lastly, I would like to correct a little falacy from above, the King Cobra does not spit. Indeed there are no spitting cobras found in Asia, they are an African species. Cobras normally found in Thailand are the King cobra and the common or Indian cobra. Both bite and inject a neurotoxin. Have a look at Cobra.Org - The cobra information page.

[Gazza]

not ducks but GEESE.

Yes, sounds good - they make good guard "dogs" too I understand. I'll get some.

I think there's a naval base in Greenock Scotland that supposedly uses geese instead of guard dogs. Presumably because it's more difficult to poison them without causing a ruckus.

[p1p]

We have geese, they have occasional problem with the dogs!

They are great if you do not mind having grass eaten down to bedrock and walking ankle deep in sh1t. If you have children, or like walking barefoot, give them a miss.

[Axel]

...walking ankle deep in sh1t....

That's precisely what the snakes hate and mind you, they have no feet.

btw: love your avatar

[keddy]

I read somewhere that Mongooses (Mongeece) often come out worse in a showdown with King Cobras. Understandable they're huge and fast. Best thing to do is keep still, no sudden moves, let it pass. easier said than done of course!

[siamruby]

I am not sure it s a myth or not but they said use lemons to scare the snakes off. When I was a kid and went camping in LOS with the Girl Guides. When all the tents were set up the teachers put lemons at the 4 corners of each tent,saying that they would stop the snakes come near us just in case. Then in the morning they told us that there was a 5ft python escaped from the zoo nearby!

[lingling]

Lastly, I would like to correct a little falacy from above, the King Cobra does not spit. Indeed there are no spitting cobras found in Asia, they are an African species.

Maybe they don't spit as good as the spitting cobra (which have holes in front of the fangs to help it spit further) but they do spit.

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/king_cobra.htm

[RDN]

According to my g/f, there's a kind of grass that snakes don't like - "mai-ya-rub". We have some in the front lawn and I used to pick it out because it's very thorny. But after the grass-cutter men killed a snake that was lurking in the long grass, I now leave it to grow and spread!

It has very interesting leaves - they close up when you touch them:

[Stocky]

I can confirm that sulphur works.

We had a problem with snakes coming into our house in Malaysia. The local fire brigade came and took the snakes away, a pair of banded kraits, they recommended we sprinkle sulphur powder around the house.

We had no more snake problems.