Venomous Mildly Dangerous. Mangrove Cat Snake Boiga dendrophila

Transcription

1 Banded Mangrove Snake Venomous Mildly Dangerous One of the B dendrophila snakes I ve found at night in the tropical secondary rainforest in Southern Thailand, Krabi Province. (Page Updated: 6 September 2016) Mangrove Cat Snake Boiga dendrophila Thais say: Ngoo plong tong Length: Up to 250 cm Description: This is a long, strong snake with a rather pronounced vertebral column. The head is black on the top with bright yellow supralabial scales which have black edges, producing a striking effect. The snake is black on the back and laterals with thin yellow bands extending from the venter to usually about mid-body. It is not common for the bands to meet at the top. Ventrals are very dark grey to black except where yellow from the bands. The eyes are large with vertical pupils. The chin and throat are bright yellow. The inside of the mouth is white. Tongue is dark grey to black. Juveniles of this species are same as the adults. This snake is nocturnal and arboreal, but can often be found on the ground or in bodies of water as well. NOTE there is some danger of misidentifying this species with the deadly Bungarus fasciatus the Banded Krait. Range: Thailand-wide. Found in humid forests of all sorts,

2 especially near or in trees above saltwater up to 610 meters. They branches in daytime above water mountain freshwater streams from 3 streams or other fresh or can be found resting in in the mangroves or on meters to 6 meters high. Habitat: Trees, land, and water salt and fresh. It sleeps in many different trees including the leaves of mangrove trees in the mangrove, and on large palm trees. Active Time? Nocturnal. Food: Frogs, lizards, eggs, fish, and other small animals. They can frequently be seen heading upstream along stream banks looking for frogs at night from dusk to midnight or so. Defensive Behavior: These snakes curl up in a double-s shape before striking. They are rather quick to bite. Venom Toxicity: Weak, but with some medically significant envenomations recorded in literature. No confirmed fatalities. B. dendrophila is a rear fanged colubrid. The fangs are not large, and it isn t easy to get a good bite on a human leg or arm where venom can be transferred. Don t attempt to hand-hold a snake that is prone to biting. I know a Burmese man that worked in the snake show in Krabi for years, he was bitten many times by this species while on a boat collecting them in the mangroves. At times after being bitten repeatedly he reported getting a bad headache which abated after 20 minutes or so. Offspring: Four to fifteen large eggs. Offspring of cm hatch after ~12 weeks and strongly resemble adults in coloration and pattern. Notes: These are great looking snakes with a lot of energy for striking. Unfortunately, their look and their energy make them perfect for use in the snake shows across Thailand. It is not uncommon for these snakes to die in captivity.

3 Yellow Banded Cat-Eyed Snake (Mangrove Cat Snake) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Subfamily: Colubrinae Genus: Boiga Species: B. dendrophila Binomial name: Boiga dendrophila (Boie, 1827) Video Release of Mangrove Cat Snake Video Large 2 Meter Mangrove Cat Snake(/h2>

4 Mock Viper Psammodynastes pulverulentus Not Dangerous

5 The mock viper has a very detailed pattern on the head, and somewhat distinctive pattern on the body. This snake is harmless for people, despite its resemblance to the Malayan Pit Viper dangerous and deadly.

6 (Page Updated: 22 November 2017) Psammodynastes pulverulentus (Mock Viper, Dusky Mock Viper, Common Mock Viper) Thais say: ngoo mok Length: Adults average about 75 cm (28 inches) Range: All over Thailand and southeast Asia including Indonesia,

7 Philippines, Vietnam even getting over to Nepal and the other way, Taiwan. Habitat: Typically the mock vipers enjoy hilly regions. I found one at a local Buddhist temple (the mock viper you see in the images on this page) at the bottom of a limestone mountain, with a skink it had just killed in southern Thailand. Mock vipers can also be found under leaves and brush. Recently we found two of them in some leaf litter on a mountain. Apparently they like a variety of habitat. Active Time? Nocturnal primarily, but as I mentioned I found one during the morning about 10:30 am., and I found two more at night

8 around 10 pm. These Thailand snakes are terrestrial preferring the ground to trees. Food: Skinks and other lizards, and of course, frogs like nearly every other snake in Thailand. The adult mock viper I found in the morning was eating a large skink. This mock viper also, occasionally eats other small snakes. Defensive Behavior: Slow to bite, they coil up as most snakes and strike. I handled mine repeatedly and didn t get struck at but a couple of times. Mock Viper Non Venomous Not Dangerous

9 Venom Toxicity: Probably not toxic enough to hurt people or large pets. Rear-fanged, but not know to cause medically significant bites. Offspring: This species is ovoviparous, embryos develop inside eggs which remain inside the mother where they hatch. Mating has been observed occurring for over one hour in a tank for m/f mocks in captivity. Note Males have 3 hemi-penises, one of very few snakes with this anatomy. Notes: These are really beautiful snakes. Mock vipers have a thick, strong body. They are not really vipers, but they do possess a weak venom that doesn t affect humans

10 much. They are rear fanged. Female mock vipers are larger than the males on average at adulthood. IMPORTANT: There is a chance you will confuse it with the highly toxic venomous snake, the Malayan Pit Viper. It has markings that are very similar, though it doesn t have the giant triangular head of the Malayan pit viper it is pretty close. I thought I had a mutant Malayan pit viper when I first found this species. Very distinct markings, not similar to a Malayan Pit Viper when looked at closely

11 He regurgitated that skink as some tourists poked him with a stick before I arrived. Video Mock Viper Found at Night September 2016 Video Mock Viper I Caught in the morning in Southern Thailand:

12 Common Mock Viper Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Genus: Psammodynastes Species: P. pulverulentus Binomial name: pulverulentus Psammodynastes (classified by H. Boie, in year 1827)

13 Thailand Snake Journal Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Brave boys with a Burmese Python at Queen Saovabha Center, Memorial Bangkok, Thailand. Yesterday I went to the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute created

14 by the Thai Red Cross Society in Bangkok, Thailand. Doesn t sound like it has anything to do with snakes does it? It s all about snakes in Thailand actually. This institute is located on the or next to the Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital a very prestigious hospital in Thailand. Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute The Thai Red Cross Society 1871 Rama IV Road, Phathumwan Bangkok, Thailand Tel: or qsmi@webmail.redcross.or.th The cost was 200 Thai baht to get in and see the snakes. There is an outdoor display area where there

15 were a couple of non-native snake species like a python from South America. The king cobra exhibit was under renovations. There were some green anacondas, also native to South America. I ll use some of the photos of the Javan File Snake and striped keelbacks on the appropriate snake pages inside the site here. In total, outside were about 12 types of snakes. Inside the snake institute were snakes in glass tubes that were dead and illuminated with light. The colors of the snakes were all washed away due to the chemicals used to preserve them. That wasn t so helpful. The red-necked keelback, a very common Thailand snake, was in one of these bottles

16 and was white. These are one of the most colorful snakes Thailand has in the country. It was sad to see them as white and void of color. Misleading quite a bit too if you don t know all the white snakes have a lot of color. On the second floor of the institute building were some educational displays designed to teach people the basics about Thailand snakes. The best part of the visit to the snake farm as it s called on signs there, was the snake handling for a small crowd of about thirty of us. There were many children in the audience and they had a good time touching the snakes and

17 holding a Burmese Python that was tame captive bred, and didn t bite at all. The snake handlers showed us banded yellow kraits, a spunky king cobra, the Burmese Python, a green whitelipped pit viper, and a monocled cobra a large specimen. The presenter spoke constantly in Thai and good English to give as much information as possible in the 30 minute show. It was a good experience and I learned something pythons are bigger than anacondas. See, everyone can learn something I recommend you visit this snake farm if you have a chance in Bangkok. It is not really as nice as I expected, and there is a

18 limited number of live snakes in the displays maybe 30 types? They say there are more than 200 species of snake in Thailand and over 60 of them are venomous. Why do they only show about 30 of them? I guess I wanted this place to exceed my expectations and have all the snakes of Thailand represented. Sounds like something should do at some point. someone Thailand has a lot of amazing snake species which you can find out a lot about by visiting this center, and other snake places across the country. And, don t forget this site, of course. Schedule for Demonstrations: Hours: Monday Friday

19 Snake House Visitation: Venom Extraction: 1100 Snake Handling: 1430 Sat / Sun / Holidays open: Snake Handling: 1100 Map to Queen Saovabha Snake Farm: (click to enlarge) Click Snake Farm map enlarge. to Video of King Cobra Handling Exhibition at Queen Saovabha Snake Farm:

20 Smallest Deadly Snake in Thailand? The baby cobras, kraits, Malayan pit vipers, and coral snakes can all kill you just like the adults of their species. Though they don t have as much venom, or fangs with tubes wide enough to transfer as much venom as an adult, they need not to. Usually a snake like this can inject more than enough to kill a person.

21 Some adult Malayan pit vipers are only 60 centimeters or so. That s not a big snake. Big enough to kill you though. Take all snake bites seriously and get to the hospital as fast as possible after being bitten. Don t wait for pain or other symptoms, some snake venom doesn t give many symptoms at all at first. Hope for a dry-bite and that no or very little venom was injected!