Deadly danger
It seems to be an ordinary morning walk with Tibbe. Well, not quite normal, because we are about to leave for Chiang Mai, so I am alone and a bit later than usual. Suddenly I see him, in the middle of the road. A snake.
Curiosity and survival fight for hearing. Should I run away? Take it easy, of course, so as not to stress the beast. Or maybe just as loud as possible? Or should I just try to take a closer look? I may originally be a city boy from The Hague, but after 25 office years I have not spent the necessary hours behind my computer every day for several months now. Come on, they are thailand people, we don't live in nature for nothing. The primal man in me rises. I don't budge.
I approach the beast cautiously. Bend my knees and look him straight in the eye. I used to watch The Dog Whisperer a lot so I know you have to show that you're the boss. From the survival guide that Broer Bert gave me, I know that a snake is more afraid of you than you are of him. Apparently I'm doing the right thing. A natural talent? Don't forget 8 years of Maashees when it comes to the back-to-nature feeling. My superior gaze seems to paralyze the animal.
Of course I want to share my find with Mieke. Is it overconfidence, or am I just judging the situation correctly? I don't know what kind of snake it is, but I do know that some snakes also secrete toxins through the skin. I therefore tear a large leaf from a bush and grab the beast behind the head in one quick movement. As I walk into the garden I call Mieke to come and have a look. She does. Proudly I display my conquest and relish the awe with which my Jane looks at her Tarzan.
Of course we tried to find out what kind of snake it is. We end up with the deadly poisonous Malaysian Krait, but if that's correct it's probably a juvenile, because those kraits can grow to be over five feet long and this one was only about 40 inches.
By the way, he was already dead when he lay there on the road. Probably run over by a moped. The ants have now started cleaning up.
'Heroic Hagenees monkey pride after catching dead snake'.
Nice story!
There is a Facebook group : snakes of chiang mai. If you put your photo on there, there is always someone who can give the correct identity to the snake and confirm whether or not this was a dangerous specimen.
Thanks Lilian, great tip!
The snake can never die from a moped, they are too strong for that.
This snake was beaten to death and then thrown on the road. That's common.
I think this has been written about before in this blog?
Snake friend.
Snakes found with some regularity in Thailand. Definitely not a fan of it. Once I was in Nakhon si Thamarat at dusk on my way to a restaurant. Thought there was a branch on the street and wanted to kick it away. Just when I wanted to take out the 'branch' moved, it turned out to be a snake. I was shocked but so was the snake and it quickly ran off. By the way, snakes have poor eyesight, react mainly to movements.
Is indeed a Malyan Krait. You can tell by its triangular shape. Even if it is a young one, they can be very poisonous. I recently had one in my garden. Luckily already dead. But I hope his mother has already moved. Because this snake is in the top 5 of most poisonous snakes.
I've already had a King Cobra under my house 3x.
A large one, who was driven out by the brave maid along with the neighbor
and then beaten to death with a bat by a neighbor.
About 2 meters long.
The other 2 were smaller and were bitten to death by my dogs.
1 dog was sprayed with poison in her eyes, causing the eyelids to swell enormously.
A vet has given meds and eye drops to reduce the swelling
disappeared.
Still, I'm afraid the poison got into her system and through there
later fell ill and died. (But that could also have been the result
of tick bites). Heart and liver problems. Its a shame, but there is nothing to do about it.
King Cobras don't spit. The Thai Spitting Cobra (Naja Siamensis) does. There are more spitting snakes in the world. Frogs, humans and llamas are also part of the spitting beasts.
The saliva of the Thai variety is just as poisonous as the bite. Looks a bit like a spray can. Rinsing eyes with clean water for fifteen minutes is usually sufficient. Anyway, go to the hospital just to be sure.
Then probably the 2 meter long was a King Cobra and the 2 smaller snakes
Thai Spitting Cobras. Thanks for the addition. Learned something again.
When I stayed at Khruu mud in the on nut suburb of Bangkok, I went for a jog in the middle of the rice fields after a rain shower. There were some branches on the road that I jumped over. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a “branch” moving and I think it was a cobra. A bit further on I saw another snake sliding across the road and it had yellow blocks, alternating with black, since I come from Middelburg and he doesn't understand my Zeeland accent, I didn't ask him what his name was, I went the other way. I heard from people in the camp that they often move from one field to another when it rains.
And is there anyone who can tell if it is poisonous or not
Whether a snake is poisonous can be seen by the way it moves.
A disturbed venomous snake crawls at a calm pace with large S-shaped loops to a safer place and can really take it easy, stop and threaten at the same time, such as the Cobra.
A non-venomous snake moves quickly and with small S-shaped loops.
Also heard and read that a snake with a triangular head is poisonous and one with a round head is not, I'm not sure to what extent the latter is correct.
Our dogs apparently know whether a snake is venomous or not, they approach the most venomous with remarkably more respect and caution than the non-venomous.
Above all, have deep respect for any snake, especially if you don't know what specimen you're looking at.
Nico B
Yes this looks like a Malaysian krait. Neurotoxin poison, affects the nervous system. You don't see them that much. Often cobras (also poisonous) and pythons (not poisonous but they can bite and jump high). Recently I almost drove over a large python with the motosai in the evening, and I also regularly see cobras swinging across the road, also during the day. You see them a lot, especially when it has rained a lot.
Nice story,
But never look a (strange) dog straight in the eye.
Look over it, you will not quickly provoke the dog to an attack.
Too bad snakes are often beaten to death.
Take a nice shower for once. Close to a sink with an overflow hole. From which creeps a poisonous green snake of about 30 cm. Not big, but extremely poisonous. Imminent, so you are and feel extra vulnerable. Not a pleasant experience. Snake did not survive, sorry. Also heard a story of a snake crawling out of a toilet bowl; since then I look a little more carefully before I sit on a toilet.
Don't want to comment on an otherwise nicely written story, but give something to consider. Was this story written with a wink? Did Francois know that the snake was already dead?
If so, then I wouldn't grab the unrecognized specimen with a leaf from a bush behind the head, it could cost you your head.
But again, nicely written story of Tarzan the snake charmer.
Nico B
Rest assured, it was perfectly clear to me that the snake was dead. But if I had started my story with that, it probably wouldn't have gotten 20 responses 😉
Thank you, so with a wink, now I can go to sleep peacefully.
We regularly have snakes in the garden that jump out of trees, in all directions and up again, sometimes moving excruciatingly slowly, like I'm not afraid of anything, as we already had with Cobras.
They're dangerous rascals, like this Bandit Krait.
Once again nicely written story and then 23 comments, congratulations, wait for your next story.
Nico B
Respect, dude!
I would run and run 100 meters in 3 seconds, although of course that is not necessary.
I'm just very afraid of wild animals, so that after my office years I will live in Bangkok as a real metropolitan city boy instead of in a remote (jungle) village.
I appreciate nature enormously and here in Antwerp I also put every spider or butterfly or wasp that has crept in, neatly back outside (I kill flies and mosquitoes).
However, I wouldn't be able to put a snake or a scorpion outside, and just leaving them in the house wouldn't give me a minute's rest.
Even the realization that there are all kinds of poisonous and sometimes dangerous animals crawling around my house would not leave me for a second.
Whoever likes that must be very happy, because being one with nature is a very high-quality form of living…
Hi Pat,
Bangkok no snakes ??
Some time ago on this blog the necessary comments about this.
As well as a Python, I thought, lying on the sidewalk pushing a dog down again or whatever it may be called.
Haha, I'm bad at running, but if I see a snake close to my person, I beat Fanny Blankers Koen's record.
LOUISE
No doubt about it. Malaysian Krait (Bungarus candidus), not to be confused with Butler's Wolf Snake (Lycodon butleri), which is not venomous.
The young Krait is also extremely poisonous (50% fatality).
They are shy animals that normally will not attack prey that they cannot eat anyway.
I don't want to seem cocky, but I don't think it's a Malayan Krait (Bungarus Candidus), but a Banded Krait (Bungarus Fasciatus). I got this wisdom from the booklet 'Snakes and other reptiles of Thailand and South-East Asia'. The difference between the two is that the latter has a triangular body unlike the former. The photos clearly show that this is the case here. Incidentally, they are both poisonous, possibly fatal. The Banded Krait is the most common Krait.
It is advisable to stay away from them.
This seems to me the Banded Krait, in Dutch Yellow Krait.
Normally the brown bands (in these photos) should be bright yellow on a live specimen.
Kraits (Bungarus) are a genus of snakes in the family Elapidae.
In Thailand, the yellow krait is sometimes referred to as Ngoe sam liem, which means 'triangle snake'.
This name refers to the triangular body cross-section of the kraits.
Some species have a name derived from the name used by the local population. The yellow krait is also known as pama.
During the day the snakes are very passive and rarely bite, but when they crawl on the bottom at night they are often overlooked and if you get too close the snake will bite.
Kraits are highly venomous and after a bite the victim should receive medical treatment as soon as possible.
Most people who are bitten do not survive.
All species are bottom-dwellers that live exclusively on land and do not climb.
They hide under objects such as rocks during the day and become active at night.
Most species (there are 14!) mainly eat other snakes and also conspecifics and venomous snakes such as cobras.
For more information see https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraits