Help.....we Have Cobra's Around The House!

[Toni]

For some weeks ago my GF found some baby-cobra's roaming in her garden of which one had been killed by one of the domestic dogs.

Yesterday she got an alarming call from her sun that he met late in the afternoon a quit big yellow King's Cobra in the garden. After calling the general emergency number they sent a the wellknown team with a lot of guys at the back of a van; the team which is always standbye for accidents. On the spot they said it is too dark now.

Anyway, where can we get some help? We allmost cannot search near the neighbouring house because it has been abandoned for years and one cannot normally enter into the garden because of the bush grown in these years and a completely blocked garden-entrance by dumped garden-rubbish from the neighbourhood.

I am not to affraid to do e search and to catch the snake(s) with common sense when the area is a bit clean, but here one need a person who is experienced in hte jungle.

We do not like in fact the help of the people who were sent out, because we are almost sure that the animal will be killed for several reasons.

Unfortunately her daughter had a bad experience with the Red Cross because in a similar case the never showed up.

We are in the suburbs of Bangkok (Samra District).

Does somebody has an idea or a hint?

Thanks

[Phano]

Keep several ducks in your compound. Ducks' pong is known to keep snakes away!

[Old Man River]

I had a similar question a few months ago. I had hoped someone had a service for this type of thing, but no such luck. In any event, I was advised to get a dog. I have dogs, but hadn't let them into the back where the snakes were. I let them out now and (knock on wood) haven't seen any snakes lately. My neighbor did say one snake went from my yard to her yard, but her dogs killed it. I am not talking about anything viscious. I have a poodle and Golden Retreiver, so far so good, but no promises.

[Toni]

I had a similar question a few months ago. I had hoped someone had a service for this type of thing, but no such luck. In any event, I was advised to get a dog. I have dogs, but hadn't let them into the back where the snakes were. I let them out now and (knock on wood) haven't seen any snakes lately. My neighbor did say one snake went from my yard to her yard, but her dogs killed it. I am not talking about anything viscious. I have a poodle and Golden Retreiver, so far so good, but no promises.

I should not take the risk to trust your dogs in this case! I do not think dogs generally spoken are snake-killers!

She has dogs and they warned only, but keeping a safe distance.

In the mean time we made again a phone call to the snake farm, but no solution: they advised to call the general emergency number.

OK, as I said, I like to keep the animal alive, but when the authorities are not able to help we have to decide to let it caught risking an almost certain death knowing how a lot of people are in need of money.

Thanks anyway

[skylar]

I wouldn't trust a poodle to kill a King Cobra. They just don't have the body mass or the strength.

[bina]

thai 'soi' dogs or village dogs (the pariah dogs) can and will kill snakes.... most other dogs are pretty bad and usually lose to snakes

cats work wonders also

[Boo]

We had king cobras at my place in samui several years ago, the landlady planted a peremiter of lemongrass, apparently they hate the smell! Worth a try.

[Old Man River]

I had a similar question a few months ago. I had hoped someone had a service for this type of thing, but no such luck. In any event, I was advised to get a dog. I have dogs, but hadn't let them into the back where the snakes were. I let them out now and (knock on wood) haven't seen any snakes lately. My neighbor did say one snake went from my yard to her yard, but her dogs killed it. I am not talking about anything viscious. I have a poodle and Golden Retreiver, so far so good, but no promises.

I should not take the risk to trust your dogs in this case! I do not think dogs generally spoken are snake-killers!

She has dogs and they warned only, but keeping a safe distance.

In the mean time we made again a phone call to the snake farm, but no solution: they advised to call the general emergency number.

OK, as I said, I like to keep the animal alive, but when the authorities are not able to help we have to decide to let it caught risking an almost certain death knowing how a lot of people are in need of money.

Thanks anyway

I think you misunderstood what I was inferring. The advice I received was that snakes don't like dogs and would try to avoid them. I agree that normally gentle dogs are not snake killers. For me, I just want the snakes to move on and it looks like they have. If you want to kill a King Cobra, get a mongoose.

[naka]

Get two or three big geese. They keep away the snakes and human, canine

intruders to boot !

Naka.

[jdinasia]

well ... if the soi dogs don't kill the snake ... there's a fast answer for the soi dog problem ... almost elegant in its simplicity too!

[ding]

Hmmm

Is there a snake trap at Tesco Lotus?

[Dustoff]

~

A few babies and one killed by a dog does not exactly create some nightmare on earth. This is Thailand and I would suggest either finding a way to relax your paranoia or moving to Hawaii where there are no snakes.

Trust me, snakes are usually less interested in meeting you than you are in meeting them. And if they are showing up in increasing numbers, you need to find and eliminate the reason they are there.

Such as food.

Are you sure they are Cobras? Most immature snakes are very difficult to identify until they come into their adult colorations. And even if they ARE Cobras, unless you regularly run barefool (pun intended) races in your yard well after dark, they are of little threat to you.

We have a couple of resident snakes in our yard but they are of the non-poisonous and viper variety and their only interest is in our also resident frogs. I actually like have a couple of snakes around because they inhibit a population of mice but if you are starting to see the larger varieties, you need to start doing rat control, including in your surrounding environment. If people are dumping food garbage near you, have your Thai lady get the government on it or start putting out VERY carefully placed rat poisons. The difficulty with this is that there will certainly be a few local dog losses (from eating not only the poison if they can get to it but from eating the dead/dying rats) but Thais are used to this and will contain their domestic animals when poisons start to occur.

For myself, I keep my yard manicured and eliminate holes and dark corners as that is where snakes like to hang out. Be absolutely scrupulous about garbage and take it to the street/can instead of letting it sit in the back yard for a day or two, soak peeled garlic cloves in vegetable oil for a week and sprinkle it around your perimeter; yes, your area will reek of garlic and the snakes will think so also.. Stomp your feet when walking around your yard; they are VERY sensitive to vibration and will respond, even a few properties away, by executing a retreat. The reason Oxen do not get bitten is because the LAST thing a snake wants is to be stepped upon by some huge animal with cloven hooves. Chickens and (as previously posted) geese will kill smaller snakes but I would rather put up with snakes than chicken/goose crap & noise...

Snakes are cool, dude. Welcome them by understanding them and enjoy the symbiotic relationship you can develop!

Edited March 25, 2006 by Dustoff

[Sheryl]

We had king cobras at my place in samui several years ago, the landlady planted a peremiter of lemongrass, apparently they hate the smell! Worth a try.

It's true. Lemon trees and ma krut (kaffir lime -- the one thatthe leaf is used as spice) also work just as well. Snakes dislike the smell of citrus. I had tons of snakes but after planting lemon trees all around, none.

[Jaggg88]

We been inundated with snakes over the past few weeks and it transpires they are after a certain type of bird that nests in our Mango tree. We have reluctantly had to remove the tree. Our dog did successfully kill 3 or 4 but they just kept coming. Interesting comments about Lemongrass and Kaffir leaves as I would rather keep them away than let the dog kill them. We also have frogs come across our garden but I've not seen a snake in 10 years.