Snakes and Reptiles in Thailand

by Owen Jones

March 23rd 2011

I saw something today that was new to me. I was reading in my room and what sounded like a band of Spanish gypsies playing the maracas could be heard coming from the garden. We have a lot of birds visiting most days, so I knew it was them, but such a row.

Anyway, after a minute or so, I went to look out the front window and there were about 20 assorted birds on the front fence twittering like mad.

I looked closer at the plants etc and I spotted three lizards swaying precariously at the top of slender plants.

I kept looking and after a minute or two a four foot green snake came into view.

The glass in our windows is smoked, so I opened the window to get a better look.

The birds, 5-6 feet away would normally fly off, but they stayed put, twittering for all they were worth.
The snake saw me and froze about the same distance away looking at me.

We all stayed like that for a few minutes, then the snake moved off. When it was gone the birds flew away too.

The snake was a non-venomous Wall's Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis cyanochloris) and looked just like a length of reinforced green hosepipe.

25th December 2010

I was walking in the lane in front of our house when a four-foot lon, thin snake crossed the path in front of me. I looked like a side view of a bar of toffee with a banana filling and was travelling like a viking battleship - head about six or seven inches off the concrete.

I put my glasses on to get a better look. it was oly about 10 feet away and travelling slowly.

It had something hanging out of boyh sides of its mouth and I'm pretty sure it was a dragonfly.

I looked the snake up in a book and am sure it was a Common, or Painted Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus), which is not poisonous.

20th November 2010

While walking home in the dark, my wife stopped me suddenly. In the path, three or four feet ahead of me, looking like a crack in the concree, was a small black snake. It was about a foot long and I edged towards it, but my wife said it was one of the most deadly snakes in the area.

I picked up a handful of gravel and lightly tossed the gravel at it to scare it away, in case a tractor squashed it. It leaped at me twice in a second or so and was nearly at my feet, but I was ready to move quickly too.

It went away like most snakes do, slithering, but when it went for me, it raised its head and 'leaped'. My wife says that they call it a 'Hammer Snake' in Thai but I cannot find anything in the book that is dangerous. It looked a lot like a slug snake, but it was definitely very aggressive.

I have seen a few since and the locals always kill them on the spot.

Could it have been a Kukri (Oligodon joynsoni or O. inornatus? These snakes do not slither, they launch themselves forward.