Snakes

[chuchok]

I hail from a country that has no real snakes, only the odd two legged variety.

Yesterday, a rather large snake decided to make it's home in a big cardboard box that was full of junk at the back of the house.

I heard the wife and her cousin making a big commotion calling for me.. I grabbed a large broom and decided to have a wee look. I saw part of the snake in the box and thought it was some type of python.

I was prodding and pushing to get a good look. By this time a crowd had gathered.

(most of them standing behind a fence!!!) One of our neighbors was standing next to me with his mighty slingshot. We gave the box another nudge and this f###ing great Cobra stood up with it's head flared and ready to go a couple of rounds. We backed off and the snake went back into it's hiding place.

To cut a long story short, the neighbor shot and killed the Cobra with his slingshot. It was about 5' long.I actually asked beforehand if we could catch it alive, but there was a resounding NO from everybody.(Lots of wee kiddies live around here)

Now my question is, what do you do if you are bitten by a snake? I have read a few things on the net, but there are conflicting stories. Does anybody know exactly what to do regarding immediate First Aid? (bina or any Yanks or Aussies?)

[NamKAheng]

Fist aid tips for snake bite:

http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section1...on1024_3899.htm

http://www.avru.unimelb.edu.au/avruweb/pi.htm

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/repti...snakebitetx.htm

http://www.flyingdoctor.net/travelinfo.htm#SNAKE%20BITES

http://www.cobras.org/cob_7.htm

[roscoe]

Fist aid tips for snake bite:

http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section1...on1024_3899.htm

http://www.avru.unimelb.edu.au/avruweb/pi.htm

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/repti...snakebitetx.htm

http://www.flyingdoctor.net/travelinfo.htm#SNAKE%20BITES

http://www.cobras.org/cob_7.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and don't prod with broom handles.

Did you eat it ? Shame to waste good snake

[Rigger]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

[Kringle]

Everybody else having fun and I can't find the buggers anywhere. By the time I get to the neighbors place down the road, the other neighbors have whacked the snake into so many pieces, you can't do anything with it.

On a more serious side, the websites given are a good read for what to do if bitten. Snakes would rather run than bite as they consider their poison is better not wasted on a non food source. Being calm is the first step in confronting any snake as quick movements will only excite the snake more. If you don't have the experience or ability to really handle them, then leave it to someone that does. Playing BIG man or hero can get you killed.

[Thetyim]

We had a similar size one creep up the drive way.

As soon as it had gone past the gate both our cats 'attacked' it.

The co-ordination was perfect. One would hiss at its face whilst the other bit its tail. When the snake turned round to protect its tail the cats would change roles. After about 10 minutes a very pissed off snake left.

[udon]

Watched an Aussie snake man up at Coff's on a callout last night.

Caught one and took it for a trip and next, he had one crawl up his trouser leg.

Now this wasn't in the script!

He froze and got a member of the camera crew to take his trousers off verrry slowly as he lay on the ground 1st.

He was sweating as it was a red bellied black snake.

Funny to watch but it ended safely.

[trt]

I thought that it was extremely unlucky for Thai's to kill a snake.. esp. a Cobra..??

[Boatabike]

No its just the snake that gets the bad luck. Most snakes in Thailand are totally harmles, but you try telling that to the majority of locals, snake = beating stick. Most locals have no idea on what snake is a risk or not, see snake kill snake is the normal way. Country people should know better but i know very few Thais who will not kill first. Of course a king cobra in the kitchen when you have kids is a different story, but the poor snakes that are not king cobras all seem to suffer for its reputation. I had 3 snakes living in my bathroom at one place, (a type a tree snake can't remember the name now, one a good 4 foot long). I looked them up on internet found them to be non poison type, low bite risk so left them to it. We got on well together, except they ate all the cute tree frogs that used to swim in my toilet bowl!

[Greer]

Watched an Aussie snake man up at Coff's on a callout last night.

Caught one and took it for a trip and next, he had one crawl up his trouser leg.

Now this wasn't in the script!

He froze and got a member of the camera crew to take his trousers off verrry slowly as he lay on the ground 1st.

He was sweating as it was a red bellied black snake.

Funny to watch but it ended safely.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I watched that too - thought the guy was crazy, but herpetologists do know what they are doing, so my only worry is that they don't put the "Don't Try This At Home" message on such shows...

On a related note, I had a python come into our place when we lived at Nonthaburi - it was about 2 metres long and as it tried to go under the house, I grabbed it by the tail to pull it out (God knows what I would have done with it if I had succeeded - probably run the other way).

I could only just get my hands about 90% of the way around it's body (and I have fairly large hands) and despite the fact that it had wedged only about 8 inches of it's body into the crevice leading under the stairs, there was no way I could even budge it...eventually I let go and when it had completely got under the concrete block of the stairs, I wedged a chunk of brick into the hole it had entered.

I have two young children, and although python are not poisonous, they can give a very nasty bite, not to mention the danger from suffocation if they were to wrap around the body of a child.

Also, about 3 weeks ago my wife called me to say that one of those snakes with a "noise in the tail" was in the kitchen...the only thing I could think of was rattlesnake - but I had not realised rattlers live in Thailand - and this was in our new place, also in Nonthaburi...scary! They apparently killed the snake and got rid of it - no, they didn't eat it, my wife is a Bangkokian, born and bred, so the idea of eating snakes is as revolting to her as it is to me - although I must admit - I have never tried one...

[chuchok]

Fist aid tips for snake bite:

http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section1...on1024_3899.htm

http://www.avru.unimelb.edu.au/avruweb/pi.htm

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/repti...snakebitetx.htm

http://www.flyingdoctor.net/travelinfo.htm#SNAKE%20BITES

http://www.cobras.org/cob_7.htm

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the great Links.Most of the Thai sites that I saw said apply a tourniquet, where as these one say to apply pressure to the wound.

[penzman]

Last week I could see the lady across the street poking at something in a small tree with her umbrella. I went over with a large bag and saw a snake in the tree. I knew it was a green tree snake, but there are 2 kinds, the one with some red around it's head will bite and is poisonous. I couldn't see it's head from where I stood and was getting yes and no replies when I asked if it was poisonous.

I thought of a safer thing to do, went back to my crossword puzzle.

[Boon Mee]

Watched an Aussie snake man up at Coff's on a callout last night.

Caught one and took it for a trip and next, he had one crawl up his trouser leg.

Now this wasn't in the script!

He froze and got a member of the camera crew to take his trousers off verrry slowly as he lay on the ground 1st.

He was sweating as it was a red bellied black snake.

Funny to watch but it ended safely.

the idea of eating snakes is as revolting to her as it is to me - although I must admit - I have never tried one...

It's not bad - very similar to chicken.

Doesn't have a gamey taste.

[Sir Burr]

You will be seeing a lot of snakes soon as the SW monsoon starts, because their holes get flooded.

If you do encourage a cobra to leave by prodding it with a broom-handle and it strikes, remember to wash the venom off, as it can be absorbed into the skin.

[mpdkorat]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was visiting the in laws the other week in the middle of bum &lt;deleted&gt; no where. When I had occasion to use the outside latrine. On completing my business I reached for the bowl to clean the effected part, open which I noticed a rather large snake head peering out from behind the ong. It gave me quite a turn, in fact enough of a turn to cause me to leave the sanctity of the room with my trousers round my ankles. This gave my extended family and friend’s quite turn, and they all pretended not to notice.

I explained what I had seen and my pregnant tiny wife grabbed a stick and charged into the Hong Nam followed at a distance by her elder brother. At this moment in time I was doing up my trousers, ‘honest guv’. After a short period of time a meter long + snake came out, followed by my wife and elder brother. The snake stood up and extended its hood. I now new that I had shared an intimate moment with a cobra. Brother and sister surrounded the snake. The snake spat at the brother (apparently 60% of Thai cobra’s can do this) and the wife struck it on the back with a stick and didn’t stop till it looked like jellow.

I asked why they had killed it. The answer was they did not want it to return. Seems fair to me.

I have since showered

BTW if you do kill a snake crush the head, they can still bit when dead apparently.

[jrincon17]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where the heck do you live where there are King Cobras in your Toilet ?

[jrincon17]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was visiting the in laws the other week in the middle of bum &lt;deleted&gt; no where. When I had occasion to use the outside latrine. On completing my business I reached for the bowl to clean the effected part, open which I noticed a rather large snake head peering out from behind the ong. It gave me quite a turn, in fact enough of a turn to cause me to leave the sanctity of the room with my trousers round my ankles. This gave my extended family and friend’s quite turn, and they all pretended not to notice.

I explained what I had seen and my pregnant tiny wife grabbed a stick and charged into the Hong Nam followed at a distance by her elder brother. At this moment in time I was doing up my trousers, ‘honest guv’. After a short period of time a meter long + snake came out, followed by my wife and elder brother. The snake stood up and extended its hood. I now new that I had shared an intimate moment with a cobra. Brother and sister surrounded the snake. The snake spat at the brother (apparently 60% of Thai cobra’s can do this) and the wife struck it on the back with a stick and didn’t stop till it looked like jellow.

I asked why they had killed it. The answer was they did not want it to return. Seems fair to me.

I have since showered

BTW if you do kill a snake crush the head, they can still bit when dead apparently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isnt this a spitting Cobra , very dangerous . Can blind you , kill you , and mame your junk if you use the toilet .

[mpdkorat]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isnt this a spitting Cobra , very dangerous . Can blind you , kill you , and mame your junk if you use the toilet .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes

[Bryan in Isaan]

We have really come to enjoy our upstairs bathroom. Someone will probably tell me cobras can climb stairs, but I doubt they would. We live some distance from the nearest neighbor and there are no small kids nearby. We see them once in a while. My wife also is the first to go after them, with me running to catch up(had to laugh at Mpdkorat's post above), but we have decided to just let them go from now on. They are more scared of us than we are of them.

Bryan

[Popeyethesailorman]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where the heck do you live where there are King Cobras in your Toilet ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

maybe they were'nt King Cobras. Could have been something else.....?

[DaveYo]

Really you must have been playing the harp tunes just right for a cobry to show up and become cozy at your stash.

Did it say hi to you or did you tsk tsk high tailed it vamoosha

Daveyo

[chuchok]

We have really come to enjoy our upstairs bathroom.  Someone will probably tell me cobras can climb stairs, but I doubt they would.  We live some distance from the nearest neighbor and there are no small kids nearby.  We see them once in a while.  My wife also is the first to go after them, with me running to catch up(had to laugh at Mpdkorat's post above), but we have decided to just let them go from now on.  They are more scared of us than we are of them.

Bryan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They probably can climb stairs, especially if they are on the trail of a rodent.

[bkkmadness]

When I eventually leave the big city and move out to the more rural areas I'm getting mongooses, dogs and whatever else I need to keep away snakes based on your experiences!

King cobras in the toilet, you just dont need that with a morning changover do you.

[Johpa]

If you do encourage a cobra to leave by prodding it with a broom-handle and it strikes, remember to wash the venom off, as it can be absorbed into the skin.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

May I humbly suggest that you not try bothering to communicate with a venomous snake via broom handle. You may use the broom handle as a weapon but only if you are intent on killing the snake. As beneficial as snakes are for the environment, within a village (mubaan) or home (boriwaen baan) there is little choice other than to kill the venomous variety immediately.

I appreciated the first aid links as the preferred initial treatment has changed since I last bothered to look years ago.

We have a home in rural hills of Chiang Mai and we see snakes all the time, most often running away from the side of the road. Considering the numbers of snakes, including cobras and the venomous green tree snakes in the area, the number of actual snakes bites is so low that the elders can easily recall every instance over the past 50 years.

I would like to add that although the Siamese cobra is common, it would be a rare sighting indeed of a King Cobra. And pythons have also become rather rare sightings around the north due to loss of habitat and loss of smaller game that a larger snake would need for food to survive.

[Rigger]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where the heck do you live where there are King Cobras in your Toilet ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

About 100km north of Khon Khen and Not in my toilet. The guy is staying with his wives parents in a basic issan type home toilet is out side. Snakes in toilets is a pretty common thing where I use to live in Australia we keeped a loaded shot gun gun near the back door just for that reason

Rigger

[jrincon17]

We also had a vist from a king cobra at least I think it was as it was just on dark hard to see and the dogs were going off so I walked around to have a look from where I was standing it looked to be 1 1/2 to 2 meters long it took off under the fence. I have started puting in sensor light around the house to make it a bit safer to walk at night. But they are real bad this time of year. I ride motor bikes/ push bike most mornings and lately I see about three every morning. A mate down the road has killed two in his toilet in the last week

Watch your step

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where the heck do you live where there are King Cobras in your Toilet ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

About 100km north of Khon Khen and Not in my toilet. The guy is staying with his wives parents in a basic issan type home toilet is out side. Snakes in toilets is a pretty common thing where I use to live in Australia we keeped a loaded shot gun gun near the back door just for that reason

Rigger

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats really scaring the sh$t out of you , huh ?

[paulsenp]

My wife and I have a small durian orchard in Chanthaburi (amphur Khlung), where my mother-in-law lives. They used to see snakes quite often, mostly cobras. Fortunately they have several dogs around the house, and one of them in particular is a real snakekiller. He received a few snakebites, and has paid some visits to the vet, but seems to be almost immune to the venom by now. I believe it has been more than a month since they last spotted a snake in the orchard.

[udon]

Excellent posts and some bloody funny ones too.

I think I have finally found a use for my jap style 28" sword.

Broom handles just don't cut it (sic)

[itsme]

I've eaten a snake once in hong kong, it's pretty good and the sause served with it was excellent but I wouldn't know what snake it was

[ProfessorFart]

Wacking at a snake with a stick is foolhardy in the extreme as in the frenzy the snake can sometimes get flicked onto yourself or another bystander.

If you want to kill a snake, uses a sharp implement like a spade or similar.