Big Snake Sighting

[Garry]

We don't get snakes around our house all that often. These two were more interested in their loving embrace than us.

This one is called a "Sunbeam Snake" and harmless. Flashes rainbow colors in the sunlight.

Nice to know, but like my fellow Aussy, I've been brought up with snakes around me in the bush and city. Always treat every snake as poisonous until you know better, but either way give them their room, reduce their need to be their and they will wander off to more fertile hunting territory.

[Paul888]

Great delivery Kandahar.

[gtm2k]

We don't get snakes around our house all that often. These two were more interested in their loving embrace than us.

btw - this is rare to see ! You;re the lucky one to get a snap !

[extexthai]

Okay, Kandahar...I will pass on a King Cobra phobia at this stage in life, as I already nursed one I never had prior to moving here...now I refuse to ride on buses anywhere in Thailand...call it a phobia...call it not putting my fate in the hands of an idiot ya-ba eating maniac Thai driver that likes to cut the curve in a blind curve situation. Whoops....getting off the subject here, my apologies....I agree, snakes do have a place in the big scheme of things and are better left for keeping the rodent population in check. Even if they eat other snakes, and that is a self defeating thing as far as rodent control goes, I will respect them to the highest. However, I still keep thinking about those times here recently, where I was rummaging under the house, barn, tractor shed for scraps of wood to build this or that....prime and I mean prime King Cobra real estate. Needless to say...I won't be doing that again, for sure. I had no idea they grew to the sizes they do. I have several pair of snake skin cowboy boots, but none are cobra....I guess they are reserved pretty much for only making neck ties, eh? Here's to snakes all over the world....sneers! ett

[kandahar]

Okay, Kandahar...I will pass on a King Cobra phobia at this stage in life, as I already nursed one I never had prior to moving here...now I refuse to ride on buses anywhere in Thailand...call it a phobia...call it not putting my fate in the hands of an idiot ya-ba eating maniac Thai driver that likes to cut the curve in a blind curve situation. Whoops....getting off the subject here, my apologies....I agree, snakes do have a place in the big scheme of things and are better left for keeping the rodent population in check. Even if they eat other snakes, and that is a self defeating thing as far as rodent control goes, I will respect them to the highest. However, I still keep thinking about those times here recently, where I was rummaging under the house, barn, tractor shed for scraps of wood to build this or that....prime and I mean prime King Cobra real estate. Needless to say...I won't be doing that again, for sure. I had no idea they grew to the sizes they do. I have several pair of snake skin cowboy boots, but none are cobra....I guess they are reserved pretty much for only making neck ties, eh? Here's to snakes all over the world....sneers! ett

I guess I do have a phobia about tour buses. Or not. It isn't really an unfounded fear, it is based on what I read. I will NEVER ride one in this country. However, the little green buses and the VIP bus to CM seems to be just fine. We always get a driver that is older and seems to have no place to be and all day to get there. The tour buses, though, seem to be piloted by young hotshots that enjoy taking a risk at every opportunity. I don't need that gamble in my life. It seems that almost every bus wreck I read about in this country is a tour or a charter.

Edited July 24, 2011 by kandahar

[steffi]

That photo was Ao Nang at Krabi.

Sounds like a good size Cobra, Cobra's in Thailand can get that big, especially ones well fed on rice rats etc.

Here is a pic of a rather large cobra taken near Jomtien Beach in 2005

[changraider]

By the way, does anybody know where I can get me some mongooses (mongeese?)...perhaps a dozen or so? Yikes! ett

I did spot a mongoose a couple of days ago running along the ditches / klongs (it took a while to verify on google). When I mentioned this at dinner last night to FIL, his first response was "Aroy" / delicious. In our house the menu is definitive Lanna wild mountain style (and I love it) , but to the best of my knowledge pangpong / mongoose has never been dished up - yet, though snake has :-)

[bifftastic]

.

.If it is green and in a tree you should move back quickly from it...

Wouldn't you fall out of the tree?

[sceadugenga]

Some of the people on ThaiVisa fell out of their tree a long time ago Biff...

[changraider]

Well for a city boy like me the only snakes i`d met before were the proverbial two-legged ones; so now as a country boy i do appreciate the advice, though if i were face-to-face with a cobra i'd probably just run. My gf did meet a full-grown cobra in the fields last year, she just sliced its head off with a machete (i kid you not). Her dad tells me the best way to deal with a snake is to take your shirt off and throw it away from you - apparently the snake will go for it and you can make a hasty exit. I did ask him what colour shirt was best, but that's a different forum.

Now for the first Chang of the day.

[wellred]

That Thailand snakes link is brilliant! I've always been fascinated with these amazing creatures.

[changraider]

That Thailand snakes link is brilliant! I've always been fascinated with these amazing creatures.

[/quot

Blimey, 1.15, and the frogs are keeping me awake (it used to be discos!). Saw my first cobra this evening,dad-in-law smacked it over the head with a stick and killed it, so nonchalant as we were dining. Only about 1 foot long but with a noticeable hood. Not sure if they're lethal at that age, but he wouldn't let the dogs near it, even when it was dead. Our dogs are what we call "local dogs", born and bred in the mountain, so they're not scared of snakes, and do occasionally bring them in from the fields.

Yes that link is great, if it's the same german-guy-thai-snake link I'm thinking of. I know some may jest, but really walking in the fields here is the most dangerous thing I've done since south London, many many moons ago.

[maidu]

snake(s) story: While residing in a bungalo here, there was first a small snake, 18" long. I threw a towel over it and tossed it outside. Second time, awhile later, it was about 4' long. I did a 'Discovery Channel' capture, by grabbing its tail and gently jerking it while it was suspended, and tossed it outside. Third time, awhile after that, it was sizable, about 7 ft. long and over an inch in diameter. I think it was the same snake each time. It was light tan color and suspect it was not a viper/venemous. I got a garden hoe and cornered it in the house. I pressed the hoe against it with my weight leaning in to it. I could feel it breathing, which gave me appreciation for its strength. A farang friend showed up with a tool for capturing it - 1/2" pvc pipe, 5 ft. long, with a loop of string coming out the business end - used to cinch around the snake's head. During all those visits, I had mice, so that must have been what attracted the snake with his/her repeated visits. Since banishing the mice, no more snakes.

Incidentally, I used the same pvc tool to catch a particularly bothersome little dog and dispatched it. Don't tell my neighbor. When I say 'bothersome', I mean squeaky wake-the-neighbors barking every night for 7 years. Could the Thai neighbor ever effectively discipline his dog? I'll let those familiar with Thailand answer that.

[PhayaoPete]

<br />snake(s) story:  While residing in a bungalo here, there was first a small snake, 18" long.  I threw a towel over it and tossed it outside.  Second time, awhile later, it was about 4' long. I did a 'Discovery Channel' capture, by grabbing its tail and gently jerking it while it was suspended, and tossed it outside.  Third time, awhile after that, it was sizable, about 7 ft. long and over an inch in diameter.  I think it was the same snake each time. It was light tan color and suspect it was not a viper/venemous.  I got a garden hoe and cornered it in the house. I pressed the hoe against it with my weight leaning in to it.  I could feel it breathing, which gave me appreciation for its strength.  A farang friend showed up with a tool for capturing it - 1/2" pvc pipe, 5 ft. long, with a loop of string coming out the business end - used to cinch around the snake's head.  During all those visits, I had mice, so that must have been what attracted the snake with his/her repeated visits.  Since banishing the mice, no more snakes.<br /><br />Incidentally, I used the same pvc tool to catch a particularly bothersome little dog and dispatched it.  Don't tell my neighbor.  When I say 'bothersome', I mean squeaky wake-the-neighbors barking every night for 7 years. Could the Thai neighbor ever effectively discipline his dog?  I'll let those familiar with Thailand answer that.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I sympathize with you...continuous barking with no let-up. However, we have a dog that only barks when he is supposed to? I am guessing it is at real people and not ghosts, so I do let him finish his barking and then he shuts up and goes back to whatever he does at night...sleep? The same dog, when he was a puppy, kept barking one night without let-up, so I got up and investigated, and lo and behold, he had cornered this really big scorpion and was playing with it! I caught the scorpion and put it in a box to photograph it the next day, and he shut right up. I don't know about any snake encounters as of yet...he is still alive, at least. I have had dogs bitten by Rattlesnakes and only swelled up and was fine the next day, back in the states. Don't know what kind of reaction a Cobra would have on a canine. Hopefully he will leave a Cobra alone and not try something stupid. Those are the main snakes that have me really concerned. I have a firefighter/paramedic friend coming to visit from the states in November, and I am going to get him to bring me some of the things they use for severe reactions to stings and bites. Hopefully I will never need to use it, but....might get me to a hospital in time, and hopefully they will have anti-venom. PP