Another Snake Identification Please

[mangotogo]

This small snake was on my door step this morning. My dog was looking at it and gladly not making any attempt at attacking it. It is about 15 cm long 1-1.5 cm diameter. Was quite placid but when I attempted to move it was made quite a few jumps at me. I then disappeared under a fish fountain..so is still very around!

The house is in Jomtien not far from the beach.

Can someone identify it please. The workers next door said it was a cobra and I would die if bitten?

[mangotogo]

Forgot the attachment, sorry!

[Mrjlh]

My guess would be a Xenochrophis piscator (Checkered Keelback). Not dangerous.

[sbk]

Its what the locals on Koh Phangan call a Ngoo sokaplok (dirty snake) totally harmless but, according to what locals say, always comes back. Sort of brown with bluish markings.

Not sure about that keelback, I looked at the photos on wikipedia and that snake (Xenochrophis piscator) looks yellowish.

[mangotogo]

Its what the locals on Koh Phangan call a Ngoo sokaplok (dirty snake) totally harmless but, according to what locals say, always comes back. Sort of brown with bluish markings.

Not sure about that keelback, I looked at the photos on wikipedia and that snake (Xenochrophis piscator) looks yellowish.

Thank you, I am not so concerned about him now. I found a closer picture on the french web site: http://total-taeniura.superforum.fr/t1217-photos-des-differentes-especes-asiatiques

Because my snake is quite dark and the head is also almost all black with some light scales along the jaw line.

It was also shaking it's tail like a rattle snake but the tail is very thin. On Wikipedia it mentioned that chased it jumps off the ground. It definately was a good jumper. I backed off quickly!

Thanks again.

[Mrjlh]

Its what the locals on Koh Phangan call a Ngoo sokaplok (dirty snake) totally harmless but, according to what locals say, always comes back. Sort of brown with bluish markings.

Not sure about that keelback, I looked at the photos on wikipedia and that snake (Xenochrophis piscator) looks yellowish.

Keelbacks can be brown, black, or yellow. Depends on their surroundings.

[mangotogo]

Its what the locals on Koh Phangan call a Ngoo sokaplok (dirty snake) totally harmless but, according to what locals say, always comes back. Sort of brown with bluish markings.

Not sure about that keelback, I looked at the photos on wikipedia and that snake (Xenochrophis piscator) looks yellowish.

Keelbacks can be brown, black, or yellow. Depends on their surroundings.

Hi again,

I found a positive identification photo on this site : http://www.siam-info.de/english/snakes_lycodon.html

He/She is a Common wolf snake: totally harmless.

Over the last few days I showed the photos to different thai people I know and everyone had a different name...all would kill me....everyone was jumping back at the sight of the photos....

Glad it just slithered away. Now I will just say hello when I see it around the garden.

By the way: this site is a good one for snake photos and short biography on each species.

[meatboy]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

[12DrinkMore]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

Well that's a sad story

Why on earth do people kill snakes, why didn't you kill the dam_n vermin cat instead?

If it was 30 yards away it was obviously not posing a threat to anyone, just turn away and you'll most likely never see it again. Cornering snakes and trying to kill them is also where all the bites occur.

Snakes are, in there own particular way, beautiful animals. Please don't go around needlessly killing them, unlike cats they won't come around pissing, wailing, jumping on your lap, leaving fur everywhere, begging and rubbing themselves on your legs.

Kill the cats not the snakes.

Edited May 17, 2011 by 12DrinkMore

[meatboy]

it did cross my mind after i found it was not poisonous but whos to know,it was going into my naighbours garden and they have the most lovely dog who i have become attached to and the thought of him getting bit by the snake i coudnt live with knowing i could have prevented it,regarding the cat he is on 8lives 1to go.

[Nawtier]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

Good for you....well done.....lucky it was not the last of its species huh.

[sbk]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

Well that's a sad story

Why on earth do people kill snakes, why didn't you kill the dam_n vermin cat instead?

If it was 30 yards away it was obviously not posing a threat to anyone, just turn away and you'll most likely never see it again. Cornering snakes and trying to kill them is also where all the bites occur.

Snakes are, in there own particular way, beautiful animals. Please don't go around needlessly killing them, unlike cats they won't come around pissing, wailing, jumping on your lap, leaving fur everywhere, begging and rubbing themselves on your legs.

Kill the cats not the snakes.

I wonder if your response would be the same if he said it was his 5 year old in the same situation? While I don't advocate wholesale slaughter of snakes and I do advocate that people educate themselves so they don't kill harmless snakes I will tell you this, after 20 years of cobras in my bathroom, cobras in my kitchen, cobras in my front yard and cobras in my backyard, if there is a cobra around my house, it dies.

We've had plenty of the little brown snakes, I know what they are and they get shooed out, we've had a few pythons and DH gets to snare those and take them over the road to the jungle out back.

So, rather than a rude and aggressive response designed to piss people off, suggest you try the method of education, and encouraging people to learn about their natural surroundings and what is safe and what is not.

[meatboy]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

Well that's a sad story

Why on earth do people kill snakes, why didn't you kill the dam_n vermin cat instead?

If it was 30 yards away it was obviously not posing a threat to anyone, just turn away and you'll most likely never see it again. Cornering snakes and trying to kill them is also where all the bites occur.

Snakes are, in there own particular way, beautiful animals. Please don't go around needlessly killing them, unlike cats they won't come around pissing, wailing, jumping on your lap, leaving fur everywhere, begging and rubbing themselves on your legs.

Kill the cats not the snakes.

I wonder if your response would be the same if he said it was his 5 year old in the same situation? While I don't advocate wholesale slaughter of snakes and I do advocate that people educate themselves so they don't kill harmless snakes I will tell you this, after 20 years of cobras in my bathroom, cobras in my kitchen, cobras in my front yard and cobras in my backyard, if there is a cobra around my house, it dies.

We've had plenty of the little brown snakes, I know what they are and they get shooed out, we've had a few pythons and DH gets to snare those and take them over the road to the jungle out back.

So, rather than a rude and aggressive response designed to piss people off, suggest you try the method of education, and encouraging people to learn about their natural surroundings and what is safe and what is not.

i did warn the grandmother of 2young children that were playing just 20yards away like i said you dont know what are dangerous,the bite alone would be terrifying,so the message is dont invade my territory and i wont yours

.

[Cuban]

I've killed a few snakes that were confirmed dangerous to pets and kids around the house, but we get so many Checkered Keelbacks and they are easy to identify and not harmful I catch and release them out in the fields, as such they are good snake to practice on. The biggest my BIL and I caught was about 3m long non-poisonous but had a big mouth. The villagers a few years ago found and killed a really nice looking python, not sure how long it was but the body was about 15cm in diameter.

IME it's worth learning a few snakes identities so you can make the right snap decision.

[F1fanatic]

My Thai dogs can differentiate between harmless and venomous snakes!

Harmless snakes, much to my horror, they kill them. Cobras - they have a distinctive, aggressive bark.

Unfortunately the dog I brought from England is completely stupid and whereas the other dogs bark and keep away, he gets too close...

[techno]

i encountered a 5foot snake last night,i could see from about 30yards away a cat trying to attack it but the cat backed off,it looked like a cobra the way it was acting arched back mouth wide open and striking quite fast ,i approached it but it made off at a fast speed,i got in one blow to the body,then it turned on me head up mouth opened and ready to strike quite scarey ,i got in another blow then he climbed up a tree then i managed to kill it [140cmts] brown on top with light underneath,went into siam-info sight and found it was a checked keelback,a snake that shows all the caracteristics of a cobra one to set your pulse racing but not poisonous.

Good for you....well done.....lucky it was not the last of its species huh.

I agree better to be safe than sorry and l would have done the same having had an encounter with a cobra in my house

[featography]

My guess would be a Xenochrophis piscator (Checkered Keelback). Not dangerous.

Im sitting next to a man that is a farmer, and I showed him the picture. He said Naja (cobra)

For fun, I pulled up the pic of checkered keelback, and the picture of the snake in question. The 2 pics side by side, are of very different snakes. The checkers are dark, the markings on the other snake are very light colored, to name but one difference. I bet a cafe yenne my neighbor sitting next to me is right; its a cobra

[Mrjlh]

In the picture you showed in your post, the snake was "Dark colored" not light colored as you just described. Every "snake" in Thailand is a "Cobra" if you ask the locals. Keelbacks can vary in darkness from light to very dark. Also the picture presented you can not see enough detail especially the back of the head. This is what makes snake identification very difficult here. Do you happen to have any other pictures of the snake? If you do, I'd like to see them.

[sbk]

I disagree with your farmer neighbor, I am afraid. I have seen countless of these snakes, I have no idea what they are in English but in Thai they are ngoo sokaplok (dirty snake) and are totally harmless.

And yes, I do know my cobras having had cobras in the kitchen, the bathroom, the front yard, the back yard and outside my bedroom door.

That is a ngoo sokaplok.

[mangotogo]

Here are 2 more picutre of the small snake.

Just as a footnote. I pulled a palm frond down in the garden and the next morning another snake had left it's skin as it shedded it. I then proceeded to pull another dead frond and the same snake( shedding one) fell from the sky at my feet! It clambered back up the tree very quickly. This one was greener in color with light underbelly but was moving too quickly to identify.

Normally it rains dogs and cats but not in Pattaya!

[Cuban]

> This one was greener in color with light underbelly but was moving too quickly to identify.

Green tree snakes; up turned tip of nose and red eyes? Then a pit viper = nasty bite.

Picture.

[F1fanatic]

> This one was greener in color with light underbelly but was moving too quickly to identify.

Green tree snakes; up turned tip of nose and red eyes? Then a pit viper = nasty bite.

Picture.

Thanks for that Cuban. I have lots of tree snakes around so assume any green snake is a Golden Tree Snake, whilst always wondering.....

From now on I'll look to see if any of them have red eyes - as I'm not about to put my glasses on and get close enough to see whether they have a turned up nose .

Its hard to find a good snake identification handbook here - but then again the differences seem to be so minor that I wouldn't see them anyway!

Being so ignorant in snake identification, my golden rules are:-

1) Does it rear up and, if so, is it brown and relatively thick in circumference - if so, cobra - keep well away and make sure stupid dog keeps well away

2) Is it green and v thin - tree snake - but now I need to check for red eyes

3) Is it brown, relatively thick and long, but runs away rather than rears up - rat snake - no need to worry.

It would be interesting to gain more info on how to distinguish common snakes (easily) from other posters.

[Cuban]

I agree with you.

>Being so ignorant in snake identification, my golden rules are:-

I take every opportunity to learn from my relations and have taken part in snake capture events. Those that I know well (Chequered Kellbacks) I'm happy to catch-relocate-release by myself. Around the houses, those that relatives point at and scream while running away I'll tackle with my snake killing stick.

Out in the wilds I'm happy to leave them in peace, I'll take me and the dogs in the other direction.

When one gets run over I'll try and take the head and a section of body if it's a type I've not seen before and get my BIL to tell me about it. His first reaction is normally as to whether the snake makes good eating or not.

[F1fanatic]

I agree with you.

>Being so ignorant in snake identification, my golden rules are:-

I take every opportunity to learn from my relations and have taken part in snake capture events. Those that I know well (Chequered Kellbacks) I'm happy to catch-relocate-release by myself. Around the houses, those that relatives point at and scream while running away I'll tackle with my snake killing stick.

Out in the wilds I'm happy to leave them in peace, I'll take me and the dogs in the other direction.

When one gets run over I'll try and take the head and a section of body if it's a type I've not seen before and get my BIL to tell me about it. His first reaction is normally as to whether the snake makes good eating or not.

So how do you differentiate between a rat snake and a chequered keelback? I realise its not important as both as harmless, but it would be nice to know.

I've been v lucky in that it was my twice-weekly cleaner who discovered a snake in my kitchen - but she was as loathe to harm snakes as myself, and a lot braver! She took the long handled dustpan and got it outdoors - I just looked on in admiration !

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

[Goshawk]

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

buy this book...

[Gary A]

Neither my wife or I kill snakes whether they are poisonous or not. We had one in the garage the other day. I think it was a keelback. It had its head between two bars and couldn't seem to be able to back out.

Upon a closer look, it had swallowed something and the bulge had it stuck. It managed to regurgitate a big toad and then quickly went away. While it was stuck it was wagging about the last three or four inches of its tail very fast like a rattle snake. I have never seem a snake other than a rattle snake do that. My wife was trying to shoo it away with one of those long brooms that they use to clean cobwebs. It struck repeatedly at the broom.

[F1fanatic]

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

buy this book...

Funnily enough I 'inherited' that book from a relative when they left Thailand. Unfortunately I lent it to a friend, and can't remember who .

Even so, although it was helpful to see the pictures, so many snakes are so similar that I never found it much help.

[Goshawk]

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

buy this book...

Funnily enough I 'inherited' that book from a relative when they left Thailand. Unfortunately I lent it to a friend, and can't remember who .

Even so, although it was helpful to see the pictures, so many snakes are so similar that I never found it much help.

The trick is to not just look at the pictures, but read the descriptions too...

worked for me when i first came here 7yr ago.. Since then, i've rarely come across a snake species in Thailand that is not in it. (& i'm in the forests & 'jungles' quite a bit)

[TBWG]

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

buy this book...

Funnily enough I 'inherited' that book from a relative when they left Thailand. Unfortunately I lent it to a friend, and can't remember who .

Even so, although it was helpful to see the pictures, so many snakes are so similar that I never found it much help.

The trick is to not just look at the pictures, but read the descriptions too...

worked for me when i first came here 7yr ago.. Since then, i've rarely come across a snake species in Thailand that is not in it. (& i'm in the forests & 'jungles' quite a bit)

Here is a pic of my chequered keelback clearly showing how it got it's name.

After removing it to waste land it returned to my garden where it now lives without any problems.

TBWG

[F1fanatic]

Again - have any posters good tips for EASILY identifying a certain type of snake?

buy this book...

Funnily enough I 'inherited' that book from a relative when they left Thailand. Unfortunately I lent it to a friend, and can't remember who .

Even so, although it was helpful to see the pictures, so many snakes are so similar that I never found it much help.

The trick is to not just look at the pictures, but read the descriptions too...

worked for me when i first came here 7yr ago.. Since then, i've rarely come across a snake species in Thailand that is not in it. (& i'm in the forests & 'jungles' quite a bit)

Unfortunately my short-sight is just not good enough - unless I rush into the house (or wherever) to get my specs - by the time I get back (of course) the snake has gone..... And I'm not that keen to get my head close to a snake anyway .

That is why I was hoping for 'An Idiot's Guide (whose eyesight isn't that good....) to common snakes!

Edited June 25, 2011 by F1fanatic