VIDEO: 5 meters long king cobra in Phuket attempts to swallow baby python for breakfast

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VIDEO REPORT: Phuket king cobra attempts to swallow baby python for breakfast
Phuket Gazette


Snake-show staff rescued the python from the jaws of the king cobra. Photo: Wisit Chuanchit

PHUKET: -- A huge king cobra about five meters long was captured while attempting to swallow a baby python on Tuesday morning in a fruit plantation off Patak Road near Karon.

“Mr Yo, a Burmese man who lives in a labor camp in the fruit plantation, saw the king cobra first,” said Wisit Chuanchit, a villager who witnessed the snake-on-snake incident.

The king cobra was attempting to swallow a one-meter long python at a stream near his house. Mr Yo said he heard an unusual noise from the stream and went to see what it was.

Frightened, he ran to report to nearby villagers, said Mr Wisit.

The villagers then contacted a snake show establishment in Chalong, and asked them to come nab the king cobra.

“Snake-show staff soon arrived and were able to collar and separate the two snakes in five minutes. The baby python was okay. They bagged both snakes and took them to their snake show,” Mr Wisit explained.

The rural area is well-known for the large size of its cobras, he said.

“Villagers are used to seeing huge cobras around here and are quick to call snake-catchers, because the elderly in the village believe the serpents bring bad luck. But the snakes are just going about their normal business of hunting for food,” he said.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/VIDEO-REPORT-Phuket-king-cobra-attempts-to-swallow-baby-python-for-breakfast-21816.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-07-31

[Rimmer]

Oh Wow! Now that is the stuff nightmares are made form. I love the way he nonchalantly grabs it behind the head.

[andreandre]

Its grown 2 meters overnight it appears.. ..Then again PG rarely gets its facts right

http://www.thephuketnews.com/three-metre-long-king-cobra-found-in-phuket-garden-41104.php

[chooka]

Natures way.

[hanno]

Not even close to 5 metres.

[LivinginKata]

Oh Wow! Now that is the stuff nightmares are made form. I love the way he nonchalantly grabs it behind the head.

Exactly .... WOW !!!

[Tatsujin]

Braver guys than I am that's for sure . . . we had a green pit viper in the kitchen a few weeks ago, about 18 inches long, called the Police and they sent the Animal Rescue people around in about 15 mins to take care of it for us . . . great guys, sorted it in 5 minutes and were on their way to release it in "the wilds" . . . I hate snakes!

[glegolo]

Its grown 2 meters overnight it appears.. alt=whistling.gif> ..Then again PG rarely gets its facts right

http://www.thephuketnews.com/three-metre-long-king-cobra-found-in-phuket-garden-41104.php

Hahaha, good comment...

Glegolo

[HerbalEd]

I realize the guy's an expert, but even so .... it takes balls much bigger than mine to grab a cobra by the head like he did. Heck ... it's made my heart quicken just to watch from the safety of my computer screen.

[DGIE]

Maybe the cobra is the man's pet that's why the cobra never attempted to bite the man

[Andre0720]

We are typically afraid of things we do not know.

In this instance, it does not apply to this fellow...

[Charlie1]

I've seen a similar one (approx. 3 meters) a couple of years ago, just lying on the street sunbathing.. Fascinating animals!

[maapaa]

In that video ... was it the baby or the 5m python? For my old eyes ... compared to the height of the "catcher" it looked like maybe 3 to 3,50. Not more.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[andreandre]

In that video ... was it the baby or the 5m python? For my old eyes ... compared to the height of the "catcher" it looked like maybe 3 to 3,50. Not more.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

See post #3....

[marell]

Its grown 2 meters overnight it appears.. ..Then again PG rarely gets its facts right

http://www.thephuketnews.com/three-metre-long-king-cobra-found-in-phuket-garden-41104.php

Yeah, but 5 meters makes a better story header.

[Dap]

Maybe the cobra is the man's pet that's why the cobra never attempted to bite the man

They called the staff from the Chalong snake show who handle a variety of cobras daily.

They simply handled the situation like the professionals that they are.

[ESCAPIS]

. . . we had a green pit viper in the kitchen a few weeks ago, about 18 inches long, called the Police and they sent the Animal Rescue people around in about 15 mins to take care of it for us . .

Oh, i think I have a green one to, about the same size too, she or he keep to the tree opposite my terrace.

I think my cat frightens and keeps it away.

Are they poisonous?

[NomadJoe]

In my inbox this read:

"VIDEO REPORT: Phuket king cobra attempts to swallow baby"

[Richie23]

Sod that for a game of soldiers

[bangkokstick]

Free dinner !

[seabear]

And where is the phone number of the Chalong snake show?

[hellodolly]

And where is the phone number of the Chalong snake show?

I Think if I lived in that village I would have it on speed dial.

[wellred]

I don't wear a hat but if I did I'd take it off for that guy. Big balls of steel he has. I would have legged it.

[F4UCorsair]

He has balls of stainless steel !!

Early this year I was visiting my daughter and family in north Queensland, and a carpet python had been terrorizing the chooks. The rooster raised the alarm one evening so we raced down and the python was about to consume one of the bunch, so I grabbed it by the tail, a long way from the action end, but my heart was racing. It grabbed the way too curious dog on the snout, and the thing that struck me about it was the power and aggression it had as I dragged it toward the rain forest and released it.

A few weeks later she had to kill it because it just wouldn't stay away, and had knocked off a few chooks. She measured it at 4.5 meters, and half a meter round the girth at the thickest point. I couldn't have imagined myself grabbing it anywhere near the head, and it's a snake that doesn't harm by its bite, but my constricting, and it occurred to me that it could easily have killed me.

I found the lack of aggression in that cobra, if it was in fact a wild snake, to be surprising. I'm sure in nature programs that the snakes supposedly caught in the wild have been released just prior, because they show nothing like the aggression that the python showed. Maybe it was somebody's 'pet'??

Edited July 31, 2013 by F4UCorsair

[Dork]

. . . we had a green pit viper in the kitchen a few weeks ago, about 18 inches long, called the Police and they sent the Animal Rescue people around in about 15 mins to take care of it for us . .

Oh, i think I have a green one to, about the same size too, she or he keep to the tree opposite my terrace.

I think my cat frightens and keeps it away.

Are they poisonous?

If it's a green pit viper, yes they are venomous but their venom is hemotoxic where the effect is local rather than neurotoxic (like a cobra) which may stop you breathing. I was bitten on the ankle by one at my house in central Bangkok and spent the night at Bumrungrad because I didn't know the above at that time and the doctor said I should. In fact, the only effect was a swollen lower leg which felt as though it had been scalded in hot water. I would class it as a medium level of pain, not intolerable. I now know that it is pretty unlikely a bite victim will suffer serious effects from being bitten by this snake.

But just because the snake is green doesn't make it a pit viper. The most common variety of green pit vipers in Thailand are known locally as ngu kiow hang mai which as the Thai name suggests are green with a brown tail. You can see some photos here: http://www.siam-info.com/english/snakes_crotalidae.html

The one that bit me was about a metre long. I know because after I had left for the hospital my maid killed it and gave it to me in 7-11 bag the next day.. Whenever I tell the story of how I survived a snake bite my wife loves to tell them that it was about as thick as her little finger.

[Tatsujin]

. . . we had a green pit viper in the kitchen a few weeks ago, about 18 inches long, called the Police and they sent the Animal Rescue people around in about 15 mins to take care of it for us . .

Oh, i think I have a green one to, about the same size too, she or he keep to the tree opposite my terrace.

I think my cat frightens and keeps it away.

Are they poisonous?

Yes, they are.

http://www.thailandsnakes.com/tag/thailand-pit-viper/

[Dap]

And where is the phone number of the Chalong snake show?

In your "yellow pages", where else

Phuket ain't that big, take a ride over to Chalong and ask them (preferably before you need it)

Edited August 1, 2013 by Dap

[andreandre]

I realize the guy's an expert, but even so .... it takes balls much bigger than mine to grab a cobra by the head like he did. Heck ... it's made my heart quicken just to watch from the safety of my computer screen.

He was good, but check this girl out..absolute lack of fear... .

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzcra9_the-incredible-indian-snake-girl_news

[Bagwan]

King Cobras dine almost exclusively on other snakes. They are not aggressive if left alone. Why human intervention was thought necessary baffles me. The python would have not needed to eat again for many months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cobra

[Guest]

The one that bit me was about a metre long. I know because after I had left for the hospital my maid killed it and gave it to me in 7-11 bag the next day.. Whenever I tell the story of how I survived a snake bite my wife loves to tell them that it was about as thick as her little finger.

That made me chuckle

It reminded me when I was in the Amazonas. In one night we went to look for night life in the jungle. We found caiman on one bond. My task was to catch it with my bare hands. It took some time to wrestle with the wild animal, but finally I got good hold on it and managed to raise it from the ground.

However whenever I show the proof of this heroic act, people do not tend to take me seriously anymore. Go figure.