how can you tell if it a viper or a friendly

Seen 1 snake in Udonthani since i got here.. (5 months ago). It was a small one trying to reach the Nong Sim lake... but some thaidude jumped on him. It came from a bush near a couple of small kids playing.. i was just thinking if it was a venomous snake or not. No idea how to tell

the only viper that's friendly is the windscreen viper sorry

I have seen 2 snakes in my time in Udon. one outside a 7/11 shop and 1 at the countryside at x-girlfriends home. How to now if it poison or not I dont know. And I dont care.

check out http://www.siam-info.com/english/snakes_poisonous.html

if it bites you, and you become very ill or you die, my guess is it was poisonous. to my knowledge there are 147 differant snakes in thailand , and most are venomous. i play golf and ive seen at least 20 a year, ive had at least 5 in my garden. my experience is they will avoid you, unless your unlucky enough to stumble on thier nest with eggs in it they are protecting. except the viper which is quit aggresive, i saw one of these only last week at nong sam rong golf course.

check out http://www.siam-info.com/english/snakes_poisonous.html

excellent site, been using it as a reference for years. though after i kill one, if not obvious, i can never figure out what it was. check out the sites, krates are easy, band very poisonous. if it's standing up, well, cobra, and have glasses on or sheild your eys, some spit, with amazing accuracy. saw a small one yesterday at old house when opening garage, one of my fears, to open garage and have one staring at me. well, he was lying under to door, but couldn't get in garage as i have weather stipping just for that reason, tight seal, water doesn't even enter. so opened and damn if he isn't heading into garage, which is actually a drive thru carport. so i run ahead of him, no small feat for me, and walk his butt back out of garage. assumed he was a viper, which if you don't know, has a triangular head, and the outer side of the eyes, you will notice dark spot or pits, these are the heat sensors for hunting. the malaysian tree pit viper and on the ground a lot gets their share of bites in. also, in case you don't know, snakes have no ears, so if walking at night time, step hard as the well feel the vibration of your walking, very hard. and cut them corners wide. no suprised for you or them. all snakes, unless i cornered them wanted away from me as fast as possible.

if you do get bit, catch the snake, you will need it, there are 2 types of venon. so you need to know which snake it is. don't worry about getting bit again, just catch the sucker, unless you know what it is. now, most bites are non wet/or poison injected, as this is a valuable commodity to the snake and not easy to make, so not wasted on something that's not on the menu, unless it's cornered and life is threatened. again, if you are bit, look for 2 punture wounds, maybe one if snake had a bad day, that would be the fangs. if no punture would, good possibility it wasn't poisonous, and if don't have the snake, head to hospital and hang out couple hours and see if symtons appear.

the hospital that has anti venon, on last check is the udon hosp, gov't over by NPJ Park. don't know if you've seen pics of the country house, lol, but 2 - 3 meter wall, and i keep it trimmed on the outside. only way a snake can get in is if door left open or fall from over hanging bamboo. nothing is crawling over the wall.

good luck. did i mention that fairly snake proof house is still for sale. i really hate snakes, the one thing that scares my, and white sharks. the rest i can deal with.

they have a water snake here that is extremely aggressive, but non poisonous. when walking in brush/forest/trekking, use a walking stick, much the way a blind person would, lots of movement and banging, good leather boots a small snake can't penatrate. , and look up, quite a few tree pit vipers.

hope this helps, about 50 snakes here, 1/3 poisonous, and about 1/3 of them deadly if medical attention not recieved within the hour. this fact keeps me from some island destinations. i may make it an hour or two, but a 9 yr old wouldn't have a chance.

be careful, be safe.

aznyron wrote:how can you tell if it a viper or a friendly

No snake looks what i would call 'friendly'

UdornLA wrote:

check out http://www.siam-info.com/english/snakes_poisonous.html

.

good luck. did i mention that fairly snake proof house is still for sale. i really hate snakes, the one thing that scares my, and white sharks. the rest i can deal with.



be careful, be safe.

I've seen snakes in Udon but White Sharks ???......dont tell me theres one on the loose in Nong Prajak

Seriously,good post UdornLA......I came across a snake on our estate a week or two back.Looked on the internet and identified it as a Copperhead Ratsnake....quite common,but non poisonous....good for seeing off vermin,as the name implies.

Zidane

Useful info there, have come across quite a few where I live, had one under the hood of my motor once, needless to say **** myself, and in the house, but they always seem to scuttle off in the other direction, Thai attitude is to kill first then check after for species. jus one point raised by UdornLA

don't worry about getting bit again

one type of venom eats away the flesh where the fangs entered, so if possible avoid more bites to avoid more plastic surgery repair work, especially on the ole Nudger

don't worry about getting bit again

obviously try your best not to, but if poisonous, having the snake is very important. especially if he first bit has fang marks, and while biting, quite a bit of pressure and connected for just a bit longer than necessary for a scare nip.

that is a really good site, every one should read it, in a couple languages i think, well, at least 2.

maybe not white sharks zidane, but ive seen a couple of white catfish in there i wouldnt argue with, they must be 5 ft long

saint wrote:maybe not white sharks zidane, but ive seen a couple of white catfish in there i wouldnt argue with, they must be 5 ft long

And thats just the whiskers...

Also be careful of the Australian 1 eyed trouser snake.

All jokes aside, u need to be very careful of the anti venoms, as they can actually kill u with analphylactic reactions.

Not sure in Thailand is the local hospitals have ELISA kits, which are like a glucometer, u provide a small blood sample onto a slide and the unit will identify the snakes venom and its toxicity etc...

In Australia now, u dont get antivenom now unless u have serious clinical symptoms.

The most effective way to deal with these snake bites is to apply a firm pressure bandage to the entire length of the affected limb. 70% of people who get bitten are bitten on the upper or lower limbs and 70% of those people who are bitten are trying to kill the snake initially. ( Australian Stats )