Stay Away From Brush Fires...

[penzman]

Maybe I should check my underwear first...

I just came back home. Around 2 30 am (about 20 minutes ago), I was reading on the forum when I heard crackling sounds coming from outside. I opened the door to have a look outside and saw the sky was glowing a bright orange.

I hopped on the m'cycle and went to see what was going up in flames behind the village. On one of the back roads I found out it was a field and heavy brush burning but it was huge and fast approaching one of those 2 floor, long appartment buildings.

There were people standing on the front porch with a few buckets, a lady with a dog in her arms. I decided to take a closer look and offer help if needed. I was in the middle of the parking lot which was lit by the fire only. I saw something moving on the sand. A snake! I looked around, SNAKES fleeing from the fire! EVERYWHERE !!! Most were kind of standing up with their heads up in the air. Many green ones and a few darker ones.

Panic hit me. I was surrounded... I hopped back on the motorcycle, turned around and got the **** out of there. I was still in the driveway when I felt something on my leg, looked down... SNAKE!!! The ###### thing wrappd itself around my leg and proceeded to climb up towards the handlebars. I jumped off the motorcycle and ran beside it and the snake fell off.

Now I know why the lady was holding the dog in her arms...

[ProfessorFart]

Most snakes will put their heads in the air to see whats going on, and in this case to see if they were safe from the flames. If they had hooded up then I'd have been a little worried.

You were very unlikey to have been bitten as escaping the fire would have been the snake's main objective. I doubt after being chased by an inferno it even registered you as a threat!

I bet you 'll be checking under the bed for the next few nights though...........

Great story.

[penzman]

I checked on the green snakes, they were Red-tailed

Rat Snakes, harmless although they can be bite happy. As for the darker ones, there was not enough light for me to see any details on them .

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I checked on the green snakes, they were Red-tailed

Rat Snakes, harmless although they can be bite happy. As for the darker ones, there was not enough light for me to see any details on them .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They'd be brown snakes ( same colour as your undies )

[cdnvic]

At least it wasn't bugs

cv

[Diggerbasher]

Light fires in my own garden to flush the buggers out.Loads of field rats too which i guess they are having for supper.

[bina]

Gonyosoma oxycephalum - red-tailed green ratsnake

green pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris)

http://ntri.tamuk.edu/snakesoftheworld/Asia/seasia.html

the natural toxins research center have some beautiful pics of some amazing and beautiful snakes

which one was it crawling up your leg exactly ??

[aletta]

Usually get the village chief to come and club the blighters.He's a brave old sod but does not like the small brown ones.

[Gazza]

which one was it crawling up your leg exactly ??

Might've been one of those trouser snakes I've heard about. They supposedly have one eye. But that's probably just a myth.

I've seen plenty of small, almost lime-green coloured snakes wiggling across the country roads and have had a few in the beams of my garage. They're only about 18 inches in length but still have the same effect on me as though they were 20 foot king cobras. Anyone know what these are called and if they are dangerous?

Edited January 11, 2005 by Gazza

[chico]

I checked on the green snakes, they were Red-tailed

Rat Snakes, harmless although they can be bite happy. As for the darker ones, there was not enough light for me to see any details on them .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They'd be brown snakes ( same colour as your undies )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you checked and you know they are harmless!?

do the snakes know also that they are harmless? or maybe they think they are poisonous and dangerous?

i hate to kill animals, but "only a dead snake is a good snake!"

[chuchok]

Gonyosoma oxycephalum - red-tailed green ratsnake

green pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris)

http://ntri.tamuk.edu/snakesoftheworld/Asia/seasia.html

the natural toxins research center have some beautiful pics of some amazing and beautiful snakes

which one was it crawling up your leg exactly ??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great site Bina.

The Russell's viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in all of Asia, accounting for thousands of deaths each year.

Prolific through out Asia.

Very nasty little bugger

Edited January 11, 2005 by chuchok

[Kan Win]

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[mike100]

I live about 4K north of Pattaya off Soi Country Club.

Plenty of those little vipers up here. The last one I photographed was identified by a snake professor (I found on the internet) as a Malaysian Pit Viper and was warned that if bitten, even by getting quick treatment it could result in the permanent loss of use in the area bitten.

Always show up in the garden when the fields are cut, or after a scrub fire.

Have had to kill three so far, one I ran over in the driveway, and two that my dogs and cats were trying to play with, but if possible I use a large stick to through them back over the wall.

These snakes will not go out of their way to bite you, but if you mistakenly tread on one unseen at night you are going to have a lot of grief.

Read in an old Pattaya Guide information book that the most common poisonous snakes in Patty are Cobra’s & Malaysian Pit Viper’s.

Never heard of anyone being bitten in the two years I’ve lived here though.

[ProfessorFart]

I heard a recent case of some one being bitten by a Russell's Viper in Pattaya and not too far from the centre either. Just shows that Patters isn't quite the concrete jungle is made out to be.

[penzman]

Gonyosoma oxycephalum - red-tailed green ratsnake

green pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris)

which one was it crawling up your leg exactly ??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This one

[andyadam]

Gonyosoma oxycephalum - red-tailed green ratsnake

green pit vipers (Trimeresurus albolabris)

which one was it crawling up your leg exactly ??

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This one

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How did you manage to find it again???? You get her number???

[bina]

if u want to see a guy with a serious obsession for green poisonous snakes of all kinds:

http://www.coastalreptiles.com/trimeresurus.htm

notice that the viper also has red on its tail; the differences between the two are that the viper has a vertical pupil and the other one has a horizontal pupil (same as the israeli viper and the 'coined' racer (not really poisonous) who look the same other wise...

if you can see the pupil in the eye, than u are way too close for your own good....