WHOA! snake

[The Snark]

Cruising our yard. I'd say 8 foot plus so probably an O Hannah. I'll add to this, that chunk of tree branch lying parallel to her/him is 21 inches long and I'll guesstimate it's about 5 of them long. Maybe 6. So Hannah it be. Cute little spud but is going to make me nervous hanging out the laundry on the line that runs right over this area. Maybe s/he will manage to get a nip in on the bleeping mongoose that's been rooting in our trash.

What is incredibly amazing about this shot is I actually had the camera near me and it had new batteries!

 

[The Snark]

Groan

I showed the picture to the boss. She takes one glance of it and asks, "Why didn't you take a video?"
Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :wall:

 

[Crysta]

hahahah awww, well,..boss be boss amazing photo..i wish i got some views like that!

 

[CHLee]

looks like a Ptyas carinatus,keeled ratsnake

 

[The Snark]

looks like a Ptyas carinatus,keeled ratsnake

You know, you could be right. I'm going to pass on, with every young adult Hannah or giant ratter, asking it if I could examine it's anal scale. I'm leaning towards Hannah with this twerp because Hannah is pretty common around here and, so far, the only ratters I've seen in this locale are Mucosus. I'd love to see the giant rat snakes around here though.

They had a serious surprise down in Phitsanulok a few weeks ago when they took the better part of an hour capturing a Carinatus and (after safely catching it), it turned out to be an 8 foot+ great grandma Kaouthai. Imagine their surprise after dragging it out from under a rice barn it put up it's hood. Lucky nobody got zapped. But most people around here know the giant ratter, and the big Mucosus for that matter, can deliver one very nasty shredding that almost always gets a serious infection nearly as bad as a Kaouthai nip.

 

[The Snark]

Looks like it was a cobra. Mother cat found dead under a bush in the yard today. R.I.P.

 

[Beardo]

Definitely not an O. hannah.....I'm not aware of any cobras that have that triangular body shape. Maybe some species of Krait perhaps?

 

[pitbulllady]

Definitely not an O. hannah.....I'm not aware of any cobras that have that triangular body shape. Maybe some species of Krait perhaps?

I'm thinking Krait, too, with that body shape. Kraits always look like they are starving, even when they're in perfect health. Plus, this snake has a really small head, which again, is NOT O. hannah, as they have those big "buffy" heads, as the late Steve Irwin would have described them. If it weren't for that dark head, I'd definitely say this was Bungarus flaviceps, unless they have a dark-headed color morph I'm not aware of. The body certainly looks like that of B. flaviceps, though.

pitbulllady

 

[The Snark]

Triangular doesn't always work with cobras. I thought the same at one time. Check the two in this shot.

The one on the right is a Ptyas, this it the one on the left.

Now check out the triangular in Mr. Overfed overstuffed king. Still noticeable.

Other jumped the gun. Cat is not dead. She was lying very still and I understand my wife making the assumption. Blood and a small wounds on her shoulder near the spine. Her breathing is very shallow and labored. Her hind quarters are partially paralyzed. She has motion in them but not controlled. No reflexes to speak of in both hind legs but tail twitches. She has lost control of her bowels and bladder. Front legs seem to be working but not well.
She does not appear to be in significant pain and seems bright and alert, but panicked and freaked out. No visible signs of forcible trauma.

I just came home. She's now gone missing. I don't need this.

---------- Post added 10-09-2012 at 05:02 PM ----------

Let me add, the snake in the first picture, going by measuring the stick the snake is next to (visible if you look close) is a few inches over 10 feet. The stick is 23 inches long. I still haven't ruled out it being the giant ratter though and what tagged momcat could easily be a krait. I've seen 2 krait roadkills in the past week.

Still no sign on momcat. Got the neighbors out searching. Worried because we have mongoose around who wouldn't mind a cat dinner.

 

[Terry D]

Snark, Thanks for your frequent sharing of these interesting threads on your local snakes of Thailand. Speaking of King Cobra, you've posted here about the reluctancy of some handlers to work with "The King". I've noticed a f/s ad from Glades Herp for the past few weeks showing a fairly large female for sale. Also noted was the Coca Cola can that she appears to be protecting, possibly not allowing keepers easy access to remove it- although it could probably easily be done by a few of the staff members there. The few live indivs I've seen do seem to literally exude an uncanny intelligence I don't see quite so pronounced in other snakes I've dealt with, and to be honest, I'd probably be sweating bullets if I were the one voted to retrieve that can. Although my past hot experience is mostly with N American pit vipers, coral snakes and a few Old World true vipers, I would love to have a chance work with them someday. Keep the Thailand snake threads flowing!!

Terry

 

[The Snark]

Snark, Thanks for your frequent sharing of these interesting threads on your local snakes of Thailand. Speaking of King Cobra, you've posted here about the reluctancy of some handlers to work with "The King". I've noticed a f/s ad from Glades Herp for the past few weeks showing a fairly large female for sale. Also noted was the Coca Cola can that she appears to be protecting, possibly not allowing keepers easy access to remove it- although it could probably easily be done by a few of the staff members there. The few live indivs I've seen do seem to literally exude an uncanny intelligence I don't see quite so pronounced in other snakes I've dealt with, and to be honest, I'd probably be sweating bullets if I were the one voted to retrieve that can. Although my past hot experience is mostly with N American pit vipers, coral snakes and a few Old World true vipers, I would love to have a chance work with them someday. Keep the Thailand snake threads flowing!!

Terry

The kings fascinate me. Seeing these golden colored creatures zoom across roads, along rice fields and even swimming they are magnificent athletes, up there with the Cheetah in evolutionary refinement. BTW, big one pictured in the cage may be the worlds largest. I've spent a couple of hours measuring the outside of the cage and various points and doing comparisons to him. I always come back with >20 feet being conservative.
The problem is, they are fast. The door to his cage has been screwed and nailed shut for years. He is fed and the cage cleaned from above. There is nowhere in that 9' by 12' enclosure he can't poke his head in regardless of where he is or what he is doing in less than a second. I've seen him 'climbing' more than six feet sticking straight up the side when a toad was dropped into the opposite corner. My eyes were focused on the toad for a split second then it was in the snakes mouth. I never had a chance to see him move. Add to that his venom delivery would be 250 to 500 mg and most estimates being ~5-20 mg being lethal for a human before antivenin can be adminsitered, it just isn't worth the chance even getting near him.
I've been around hundreds of western rattlers. You just need 6 feet of distance and be wary and you are safe. The same with kaouthai cobras. That just isn't the case with kings. They can strike laterally just like a rattler, using up to 1/3 of their body or possibly more. They can also strike upwards which facilitates bringing their fangs into play so knee high boots offer no protection.

Yes, they are oddly intelligent, and they can have unique personalities. They have 6 Hannah at the snake farm and each has it's own traits. The mom and pop pair will raise their hoods and observe when the cage door is opened. Bertha swings back and forth in front of her door at feeding time, one just lazes, completely ambivalent, and grandpa, pictured, is completely unpredictable.

Mom and Pop

Being his usual lazy self.

 

[Terry D]

Yep, It seems that one would need a snake-proof suit, if such a thing exists, to work closely with these big guys. There were some photos making rounds awhile back on the net of handlers standing close behind a large king hooded-up. That particular animal almost certainly had to be venomoid.