Hooded Snakes

[sceadugenga]

We had what I suspect was a juvenile cobra in the yard yesterday, just over a meter long, gun metal grey in colour.

It flared it's hood briefly at the dog (who wanted no part of it) and departed the scene.

Are all hooded snakes cobras, or that type, and therefore poisonous?

Triggered a major yard clean up anyway so it's an ill wind....

[worgeordie]

Its best to treat any snake with a hood as a Cobra, therefore dangerous,

just leave them alone,as more people most likely get bit provoking them.

Snakes are not poisonous,a common mistake,they are venomous.

regards worgeordie

[overherebc]

Its best to treat any snake with a hood as a Cobra, therefore dangerous,

just leave them alone,as more people most likely get bit provoking them.

Snakes are not poisonous,a common mistake,they are venomous.

regards worgeordie

Yep,

Curried Cobra is not too bad, but, like shrimps and lobsters you really got to hold the lid down when you drop it in the pot.

[tormok]

Its best to treat any snake with a hood as a Cobra, therefore dangerous,

just leave them alone,as more people most likely get bit provoking them.

Snakes are not poisonous,a common mistake,they are venomous.

regards worgeordie

Yep,

Curried Cobra is not too bad, but, like shrimps and lobsters you really got to hold the lid down when you drop it in the pot.

Everytime I've seen a cobra catched, they start by cutting of the head and bury it. Then the snake is skinned and cut into slices before put in the stew. I've tried it once, but it's extremely spicy. Usually eaten with lots of lao kao.

I don't know if the burying of the head is some kind of superstition or just to get the dangerous part of the snake out of the way.

[Sheryl]

AFAIK yes, hooded = cobra.

[AjarnNorth]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

[steffi]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

[tormok]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

Looks like a Cobra to me.

The Indo-Chinese Rat Snake (Ptyas korros), which looks similar, has a much larger eye.

[willyumiii]

Its best to treat any snake with a hood as a Cobra, therefore dangerous,

just leave them alone,as more people most likely get bit provoking them.

Snakes are not poisonous,a common mistake,they are venomous.

regards worgeordie

Yep,

Curried Cobra is not too bad, but, like shrimps and lobsters you really got to hold the lid down when you drop it in the pot.

Everytime I've seen a cobra catched, they start by cutting of the head and bury it. Then the snake is skinned and cut into slices before put in the stew. I've tried it once, but it's extremely spicy. Usually eaten with lots of lao kao.

I don't know if the burying of the head is some kind of superstition or just to get the dangerous part of the snake out of the way.

In California, we were always told to bury the heads of dead rattlesnakes.

I'm not sure if it is true, but the reason for burying the head was, that if the yellow jackets ( meat eating bees) ate the head, they would pick up the venom in their system and their sting would be much worse.

It sounds far fetched to me, but this is what the story was.

Rattlesnake does taste pretty good,

but it is best if the bones are removed before cooking.

[AjarnNorth]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

It's a King Cobra. Pretty unmistakable, actually. All you need to do is look closely at the pattern of scales around the head and do a quick comparison to any photos on the net. Not to mention that if you look closely you can see I have it right around the hood which it is still trying to flare. Easier for me to ID of course since it had its hood open and was in strike mode a number of times before I snared it. But it is beyond question a King Cobra.

[AjarnNorth]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

Looks like a Cobra to me.

The Indo-Chinese Rat Snake (Ptyas korros), which looks similar, has a much larger eye.

Yep. I get plenty of Rat Snakes as well. Fairly easy to tell apart... especially when you're trying to snare them since one flares its hood (King Cobra) and the other doesn't because it doesn't have one (rat snake).

[AjarnNorth]

Here are a couple other fairly recent catches on my property. Reticulated Python and a Copperhead Racer as well as a zoom of the KC.

[steffi]

Still don't believe it. What is the discoloration on the hood that you see the photo?

Where are the paired Occipitals and single Interparietal?

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

It's a King Cobra. Pretty unmistakable, actually. All you need to do is look closely at the pattern of scales around the head and do a quick comparison to any photos on the net. Not to mention that if you look closely you can see I have it right around the hood which it is still trying to flare. Easier for me to ID of course since it had its hood open and was in strike mode a number of times before I snared it. But it is beyond question a King Cobra.

[pigeonjake]

Still don't believe it. What is the discoloration on the hood that you see the photo?

Where are the paired Occipitals and single Interparietal?

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

It's a King Cobra. Pretty unmistakable, actually. All you need to do is look closely at the pattern of scales around the head and do a quick comparison to any photos on the net. Not to mention that if you look closely you can see I have it right around the hood which it is still trying to flare. Easier for me to ID of course since it had its hood open and was in strike mode a number of times before I snared it. But it is beyond question a King Cobra.

bloody hell you can see the fangs,,,,, believe it man

[Aforek]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. .. A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

For me it's a King cobra , yes ; I am impressed that you can catch and attach it to the pole ( any video to show us how you proceed ? )

same for pythons

[AjarnNorth]

Well, once someone starts asking questions like, "Where are the paired Occipitals and single Interparietal?" you have to start taking their doubts seriously and say to yourself, "Hmmmm. Seems this individual knows a bit about snakes!"

As an avid birdwatcher who is pretty good at bird IDs but knows little about snakes, I had left this ID to friends who know their snakes better than I. I knew it was a cobra - by behavior - but not which kind and they'd ID'd it as a King and sent me pictures to compare with which seemed to me identical matches.

But again, as an avid birder I know that when someone can point to a diagnostic feature not being present that is a problem. So I sent the photos along with Steffi's questions to Vern at Thailandsnakes dot com and he got back to me quickly with the following:

It's a monocled cobra, not a king. A good find, nonetheless! The guy is talking about scales that are found on king cobras that help differentiate between species.

So there it is. Matter settled. A monocled - much more dangerous than the King. So if you need help with any bird IDs let me know but if it's snakes then Steffi is your go to person to be sure.

Steffil, would love if you could elaborate on the diagnostic features that you mentioned. I still don't see it when i look at photo comparisons.

Still don't believe it. What is the discoloration on the hood that you see the photo?

Where are the paired Occipitals and single Interparietal?

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. I prefer to catch and relocate them far away as opposed to just chasing them away which is usually only temporary. It's one of a few cobras I have caught in my yard, in addition to numerous reticulated pythons (one of which ate a kitten we'd recently found and were taking care of). A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

That doesn't look like a King Cobra to me.

It's a King Cobra. Pretty unmistakable, actually. All you need to do is look closely at the pattern of scales around the head and do a quick comparison to any photos on the net. Not to mention that if you look closely you can see I have it right around the hood which it is still trying to flare. Easier for me to ID of course since it had its hood open and was in strike mode a number of times before I snared it. But it is beyond question a King Cobra.

[AjarnNorth]

Attached here is a King Cobra I caught in my yard in Chonburi a couple months ago. .. A snake catching pole is easy to make and catching them is not all that difficult, though the pythons will grab on to anything they can and it can take as much as two hours to weaken enough to pry them loose. I'm lucking in that one of my two dogs is very good at locating snakes and alerting us to their presence while keeping a safe distance (thus far).

For me it's a King cobra , yes ; I am impressed that you can catch and attach it to the pole ( any video to show us how you proceed ? )

same for pythons

Aforek, see above. Turns out it's a Monocled Cobra - much more deadly than the King. So it is a very dangerous cobra but Steffi was correct in that it's not a King Cobra.

I don't have any video, just a lot of stills. You need two hands to operate the snare so it's hard to get video at the same time. The snares are easy to make. The area I live in is getting built up very quickly so a lot of habitat is being destroyed and snakes and monitors, which I have also caught on the property, are looking for a place to call home. My house is flanked by undeveloped forested lots so a lot of them come here. Sad to say that in five years or so we probably won't be seeing nearly as much of this kind of wildlife in this area. I'm also an avid birder, and the bird habitat is disappearing at an exponential rate.

I'm not crazy about catching snakes myself. I do it out of necessity. There is a local guy you can call who will come and get them, but the problem is they often get away before he arrives and then you know they are still around somewhere you just don't know where. We've already had one kitten eaten by a python which i caught a couple weeks later and we also have two dogs that are too big for pythons to eat but certainly not immune to cobra venom so I prefer to catch them when they are seen and relocate them asap. The local snake guy is the one who made the snare for me but they are very easy to make and use and if you're careful it's pretty safe.

Pythons can take some work. I have caught 4. The first one took two and a half hours to pry off the rafters it had wrapped around even after it was snared. I actually had to ice it down (photo attached) which weakens it before i could pry it off the rafter with my hands. Another one did the same and also took about 2.5 hours to let go, so it's better if you can chase them away from anything to grab a hold of and then snare them. I keep a knife nearby in case they grab a hold of my neck, though!

A couple photos from my yard/house for your enjoyment. I will try and get some video next time.

[Sheryl]

King Cobras AFAIK are found almost exclusively in deep jungle, not likely to encounter one around the house. The monocled cobra on the other hand is quite adaptable.

[steffi]

To anybody interested in snakes I encourage them to watch Vava Suresh's Snake Master. You'll soon be able to tell the difference between Monocles and Kings watching that. There are several large Kings captured in that series.

It's a pretty good series. He's been bitten a few times so I wouldn't recommend his catching technique to anybody.