Cat toying with small snake

[Ombra]

My wife has some land just south of Nakhon Phanom, and I often see the type of snake in the pictures in the garden. They seem to be about two or three feet long, and they have a reddish/orange band below the head. As the cats play with them by tapping them with their paws, my wife suggests that they can't be particularly venomous. I'd be grateful if someone could what type of snake this is and just how wary we should be of it. With thanks.

[Gulfsailor]

Red necked keelback? If so, can be dangerous.

[stoneyboy]

Surprised your cat is still alive.

[riepan963]

Surprised your cat is still alive.

I agree with both replies.

Are you in NKP city or out in the sticks?

http://www.thailandsnakes.com/venomous/rear-fanged/red-necked-keelback-venomous-mildly-dangerous/

[Ombra]

Thank you, Gulfsailor, for the identification and the warning. It is the neighbours' cat, by the way, not ours. We live right on the Nakhon Phanom-Mukhdahan road just a couple of hundred yards south of the Kubota dealer, and so we are about three kilometres from the town centre.

I used to see a snake in the garden every other day until one of the neighbours acquired about four or five tabby cats. Then I stopped seeing them. The wife said that the cats hunt them. However, the snake in the picture was caught by two of the cats, and they just toyed with it for about 10 minutes and them walked away leaving the snake unharmed.

[Ombra]

My thanks also to Riepan963 for the link. That certainly looks like the snake in question.

[cornishcarlos]

My cat used to catch the same kind of snake quite often. As you say, just to play with..

That snake needs to bite for a while(20 secs) to inflict damage. The cats know what they are doing

Mines dead now, got run over !

[Ombra]

The information in the link from Riepan963 says that the red-necked keelback is not aggressive. The ones that I have seen have certainly been provoked by the cats, but fortunately I haven't seen either animal get hurt yet.

[riepan963]

The information in the link from Riepan963 says that the red-necked keelback is not aggressive. The ones that I have seen have certainly been provoked by the cats, but fortunately I haven't seen either animal get hurt yet.

[/quote

I guess you're around Ban Noi Tai?

Around 13 years ago there used to be snake catchers walking between the hotels on both sides of the road before Pim Siri Village and most of the other properties were built up.

The park still has a lot of snakes, many of them venomous. I have seen the red-headed krait in there and others.

[Ombra]

The information in the link from Riepan963 says that the red-necked keelback is not aggressive. The ones that I have seen have certainly been provoked by the cats, but fortunately I haven't seen either animal get hurt yet.

[/quote

I guess you're around Ban Noi Tai?

Around 13 years ago there used to be snake catchers walking between the hotels on both sides of the road before Pim Siri Village and most of the other properties were built up.

The park still has a lot of snakes, many of them venomous. I have seen the red-headed krait in there and others.

You're right about our location. We live across the road from the Highways Department where the police check point is.

I asked my wife about snakes in the neighbourhood and she said that in the past local people hunted them for food. Snakes were easy to find because there were relatively few buildings on that stretch of the road which you mentioned. When you say 'the park', I assumed that you mean the place where women do aerobics in the evening and where boys play football. If so, I am amazed to hear that there are many venomous snakes there because I would have thought that the large number of people who go there in the evening would have caused the snakes to move somewhere quieter. My wife also says that that park has become a popular place to hold a wedding party. Thanks for the warning, though.