Snakes in the house and garden

[Big Boy]

I saw my first cobra in the wild yesterday. I was driving down the hill from Hin Lek Fire where the monkeys tend to rummage through the bins at the bottom of the hill. He was a big brute - almost 4 breeze blocks long (I don't know if this would be fully grown, or whether he was still a baby).

What a beauty, and I was amazed at how fast he/she was. The fascinating thing was that it was being chased by a Minah Bird (did he think he'd found the daddy of all worms?). Although the snake stood up to attack the the bird a couple of times, the bird was too fast for it. In the end, the snake took refuge in a bush.

An enjoyable experience from the safety of my car.

[moja]

The Mynah birds are always the first to alert us that we have a snake in the garden - they seem to hate them more than we do!

[PeteC]

I agree, the mynah birds are a good signal that something is wrong. They do alert the same way though when a cat is in the garden, and when we had the baby owl visit they were chasing it and screaming in the same manner. Regardless, I listen and investigate when they go off.

The baby cobra I mentioned above was actually be harassed by a squirrel. That's what alerted me to it. Maybe he thought he was a mongoose!? Pete

[hhinner]

We've had Malayan Pit Vipers in the house before, but just for a change this cute little snake came in from the garden (to be thread appropriate). It practically fell on my wife when she closed a sliding door it must have been on top of. I think it's a young Golden Tree Snake and pretty harmless, but happy to be corrected if wrong. Still, it ended up in a bucket and was released well away from any houses. Here's a picture of it in the bucket.

[buksida]

Well done for the catch and release, most Thais would kill any snake on sight.

[Norseman]

I agree it's a tree snake.
Difficult to say if it's a golden one or a paradise one because they are almost identical.
Had the pleasure og tossing a rather fat rat snake (harmless( out of my garden today and I'm happy to say that we've both saved a rather useful snake today.
Why people kill these magnificent animals are because of lack of education.
Yes, if I had one any one of the pit wipers, or a banded Krait in my garden I would kill them.
But why would you kill a local art like a Cobra?
Yes. It may kill you. But why on earth do you want to kill it?

And why the heck does people kill totally harmless watersnakes or treesnakes?

Everything is as simple as life itself.

EDUCATION!!

[charlesh]

Most snakes don't have their species name on them!

[Bristolian]

I agree it's a tree snake.
Difficult to say if it's a golden one or a paradise one because they are almost identical.
Had the pleasure og tossing a rather fat rat snake (harmless( out of my garden today and I'm happy to say that we've both saved a rather useful snake today.
Why people kill these magnificent animals are because of lack of education.
Yes, if I had one any one of the pit wipers, or a banded Krait in my garden I would kill them.
But why would you kill a local art like a Cobra?
Yes. It may kill you. But why on earth do you want to kill it?

And why the heck does people kill totally harmless watersnakes or treesnakes?

Everything is as simple as life itself.

EDUCATION!!

Fear of snakes is probably the most common phobia. It is almost certain that humans have evolved an innate tendency to sense snakes and spiders and to learn to fear them.

Scientists have discovered that adults and children can detect images of snakes more quickly than they can identify other groups of animals or objects. The researchers believe that this ability helped humans survive in the wild.

Humans that learned quickly to fear snakes would have been at an advantage to survive and reproduce. Humans who detected the presence of snakes very quickly would have been more likely to pass on their genes.

Most people are programmed from birth to protect themselves and hence most people's fear and hatred of snakes.

Education and exposure can help some to overcome the fear but for most, unfortunately, the only good snakes are dead or on exhibition at a zoo, safely behind glass.

For me they are beautiful creatures but best kept at a distance unless an expert can assure me that they are safe. Best to walk away and leave them alone unless there is no other choice. I rarely find them in my garden and fortunately, when i have, they have been of the harmless varieties which make up the vast majority of snakes in Thailand.

[BOZ]

I agree it's a tree snake.
Difficult to say if it's a golden one or a paradise one because they are almost identical.
Had the pleasure og tossing a rather fat rat snake (harmless( out of my garden today and I'm happy to say that we've both saved a rather useful snake today.
Why people kill these magnificent animals are because of lack of education.
Yes, if I had one any one of the pit wipers, or a banded Krait in my garden I would kill them.
But why would you kill a local art like a Cobra?
Yes. It may kill you. But why on earth do you want to kill it?

And why the heck does people kill totally harmless watersnakes or treesnakes?

Everything is as simple as life itself.

EDUCATION!!

I agree fully, kill only when truly needed, pit vipers do not yield and retreat, you must deal with them as required, but the others actually help keep the critters under control

[tuppence]

I am curious as to whether "stevepiraq" meant the snake jumped the wall or his missus. Both might be funny to see.

[Bristolian]

This weekend my wife and I needed to do a little gardening, as the garden was becoming a little more untidy and overgrown than either of us likes. My wife is the gardener and I tend to be the labourer, cutting the grass and clearing away the debris, trimmings etc.
My wife (Thai) loves gardening but hates snakes. As you know, we have had a little rain over the last week and with frogs and toads in larger numbers encountering snakes was almost a 100% certainty.
There were a number of Golden Tree Snakes found within the first hour and of course it was my job to remove them and take them somewhere away from our house. My wife had much shorter term expectations and would have been happy for me to dispatch them to the great snake home, in the sky. I could not harm anything that was not threatening and therefore took them, in a bucket, to a more remote area. A few pics follow.

[Bristolian]

Sometime later today, I wanted to remove the dead and dying leaves from a couple of fan style banana plants. Having tidying up the plants I decided to trim the stems of previously cut stems and found the following snake, peacefully resting in the gap between two stems that had become water traps. This one I am pretty sure is a Many Spotted Cat Snake but I am prepared to be corrected. The markings are very similar to a Russell ’s viper but considering its size and where I found it I think that my identification is correct.
However, not being 100% sure I took a little more care and used a modified tree pruner (knives replaced with rubber pads) which I modified for exactly these circumstances, to keep him a good distance away from me whilst I carried him to a distant tree. On release he climbed like scolded cat so I assume is a tree species.
If you can identify it with some certainty please let me know. Also please excuse the legs…..the last time anyone probably saw anything similar they were probably holding up a piano

[BOZ]

Wow nice pictures, you do realize had he or she wanted to, it could have bitten you, the coiled up part is the length of its strike, in the on picture your hand is quite close to the snake, it is very coiled beyond the tool... Please be careful when moving these around... Good job releasing the obviously friendly critter....

[Bristolian]

Wow nice pictures, you do realize had he or she wanted to, it could have bitten you, the coiled up part is the length of its strike, in the on picture your hand is quite close to the snake, it is very coiled beyond the tool... Please be careful when moving these around... Good job releasing the obviously friendly critter....

Please believe me, the depth of the picture is deceiving, my hand was well out of striking range. I'm not afraid of snakes but know their potential. However its a good warning. The tool I was using is 2.5m long...a lot of margin for error. The photographer, my SIL was much closer than me.

[buksida]

Kudos for not killing them as most Thais would have.