Local Snake Name

[goodguy]

I spotted a snake under a small boulder of limestone beside a Teak Tree. Cut a long story short. About an inch diameter. though around two foot long. It has very sharp, black and white stripes, banded. Very equally spaced. Like zebra.

According to a neighbour, the poison takes only five minutes to kill.

Could someone show me how to type the name ngoo saeng ahtit Thai Style?

[meadish_sweetball]

งูแสงอาทิตย์ to show the word boundaries: งู แสง อาทิตย์

literally "sunlight/sunbeam snake".

Xenopeltis unicolor ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenopeltis_unicolor )

Google image results for งูแสงอาทิตย์ :

http://images.google.com/images?q=%E0%B8%8...=4&ct=title

If he identified it with the right Thai name, it appears he was wrong about the poison as both species of sunbeam snake are non-poisonous.

[GarryP]

You seem to have described the Banded Krait, not ngu saeng atit. The former is highly venomous.

[Slip]

From Meadish's Google search งูแสงอาทิตย์ :

From http://www.siam-info.de/english/snakes_common.html

Lycodon laoensis (Laotian Wolf Snake)

Thai: (ngu plong chanuan lao, ngu kan plong)

Size: to 50 cm, very thin

Occurrence:

In completely Thailand, usually in the hill and mountain country, also in the proximity of settlements.

Behaviour:

Evening and night-active animals, which mostly are at the soil. Not very aggressively. Bites nevertheless with annoyance.

Danger: Innocuous little aggressive snake.

Bungarus fasciatus (Banded Krait)

Thai: (ngu sam laem, ngu kan plong)

Length: up to 150 cm (some authors have reported a maximum length of 200 cm)Occurrence: Throughout Thailand

Habitat/behaviour:

The banded krait is found predominantly in flat and hilly country. However these snakes have also been discovered at heights of 2300 meters. The snakes inhabit open areas, fields, grass landscapes and forests. They are in close proximity to waters quite frequently. Several times I have also found these animals in areas in the south of Thailand, where there was no water for several hundred meters in any direction. The snakes avoid sunlight. If they are exposed to the sun, they thrash around and hide their head under the body loops or try to flee to a dark place. Animals I had found during the day were without exception in damp and cool hiding places, for example under dead fallen down trees, in rotting stumps, or under stones. During the day, the banded kraits are extremely lethargic; so lethargic that bare handed demonstrators on snake farms can even take them out of hiding and display them to the public. According to statistics, however, 50% of bite accidents from this type of snake occur during the day. The predominant food of these snakes is other snakes. In addition, lizards, and rodents are eaten. Fish may also be a part of the diet. These snakes are active at night.

The mating season for this subspecies is in the months of March and April. About 2 months after mating, the female lays 4 to 14 eggs. The females remain with the clutch of eggs until the young animals have hatched. Contrary to pythons these snakes do not “incubate†the eggs but only guard them. The incubation period of the eggs amounts to between 60 and 64 days. The new born animals are between 32 and 34 centimetres long.

Danger:

With regard to toxicity, the poison of bungarus fasciatus is said to be less effective than the other kraits. This consideration is relative, because reports exist that after the bite of a banded krait death can occur after just 30 minutes. In another documented case, without administration of serum, the bite victim died after only 15 hours.

Attention: Easily confused with:

Boiga dendrophila

Lycodon laoensis

Dryocalamus subannulatus

Strong poison, deadly!

Edited April 2, 2009 by Slip

[goodguy]

You seem to have described the Banded Krait, not ngu saeng atit. The former is highly venomous.

Well, it is tempting to entertain the banded krait, though the web photo I saw had yellow and black, not white and black bands. The bands are spaced about one inch width. These are vertical bands not anything like the Sunbeam.

Isn't the banded krait a sea snake? Do K raits live under rocks? Are Kraits toxic?

[Roota]

very sharp, black and white stripes, banded . . . Could someone show me how to type the name ngoo saeng ahtit Thai Style?

If it's banded it's not a nguu saeng athit (งูแสงอาทิตย์), which is a non-venomous constrictor.

[phaethon]

Setting aside the implied insult of providing measurements in some archaic iron-age system...

Let's sort out some terminology - Bands run around the body, stripes run along the length of the body.

Assuming bands were indeed meant, there are several white-banded snakes.

The spitting cobra can have white bands, but you/they'd probably know a cobra if you/they saw one.

Blue Krait Bungarus candidus white bands about half the width of the intervening black. The bands are not pure white, the white scales having black edges and the belly is white, so the black bands do not encircle the whole body. Bite is venomous and potentially fatal. We can rule out the Yellow-lipped Sea Krait Laticauda colubrida, which has wider white bands with narrower black bands, as I take it you're not on the coast and anyway it's rare in Thailand. Also another couple of B/W sea snakes eliminated if not near the sea.

The wolf snakes - Lycodon spp.

Scarce Wolf Snake (L. effraensis, Southern Thailand) and Malayan Banded (L. subcinctus, most SE Asia) are similar as juveniles and have the strongest B/W contrast with white bands relatively narrow compared to the black. Turn brown as they mature. Not dangerous.

Finally the Bridal Snake (Dryocalamus davisonii) quite slender with about 2:1 B:W. Not dangerous.

I think your neighbour thought it was the krait, but from the description I'd lean toward one of the latter three and nothing to panic about. Google them and see if you recognise anything.

[Goshawk]

I think your neighbour thought it was the krait, but from the description I'd lean toward one of the latter three and nothing to panic about. Google them and see if you recognise anything.

don't listen to that, until you know for 100% sure..

i've seen banded kraits (particularly juveniles) where the banding is whiteish to grey, not the customary 'yellow' that most people assume for correct diagnosis of this species.. could easily confuse someone with a lack of knowledge into a false sense of security.

[phaethon]

don't listen to that, until you know for 100% sure..

I'm not saying go cuddle the thing, just no need to run screaming for the nearest machete.

I don't like the way people assume that anything snake-like is dangerous and kill it "just to be safe", especially as I get older and often forget to fasten up my flies.

Edited April 3, 2009 by phaethon

[Nignoy]

don't listen to that, until you know for 100% sure..

I'm not saying go cuddle the thing, just no need to run screaming for the nearest machete.

I don't like the way people assume that anything snake-like is dangerous and kill it "just to be safe", especially as I get older and often forget to fasten up my flies.

There are light banded phases of Banded krait and spitting cobra in NE Thailand 1 particular pale ringed genus found in the Phu Mhu volcanic mountain area, is very docile but highly venomous the locals call it gnuu song natee, it bites 2 minutes you are dead!!please excuse my spelling, As I always tell audiences at my lectures, if it looks like a snake of any type Leave The Fxxxxxxxx thing alone

[steffi]

There's a Krait that looks just like the orange krait with white markings but that's the Malayan Krait.

Hard to say what you've got without a picture.

don't listen to that, until you know for 100% sure..

I'm not saying go cuddle the thing, just no need to run screaming for the nearest machete.

I don't like the way people assume that anything snake-like is dangerous and kill it "just to be safe", especially as I get older and often forget to fasten up my flies.

There are light banded phases of Banded krait and spitting cobra in NE Thailand 1 particular pale ringed genus found in the Phu Mhu volcanic mountain area, is very docile but highly venomous the locals call it gnuu song natee, it bites 2 minutes you are dead!!please excuse my spelling, As I always tell audiences at my lectures, if it looks like a snake of any type Leave The Fxxxxxxxx thing alone