As an update, I bundled the snake into a bag and took it out to a local jungle. I found an area where there are no houses and set it free. If I had given it to the snake catchers they would have only killed it.

That looks like a python, most likely a juvenile one.
Great job setting it free Richard. The snake catchers might have sold it to a Chinatown restaurant.

I'm getting goose bumps just looking at it coiled up....yikes.

What is this snake?
 

http://www.thailandqa.com/images/IMG_9630b.jpg

At one of the temples I visited today the loud cry of a bird drew my attention to this snake. I guess the bird was trying to protect its nest and eggs. It was very effective as the snake moved away. Then a cat decided to join in with the fun. The snake seemed more scared than the cat who was just curious. The last photo shows the snakc striking at the cat who managed to move out of the way in time. Is it a cobra?

http://www.thailandqa.com/images/IMG_9647.jpg

http://www.thailandqa.com/images/IMG_9656.jpg

http://www.thailandqa.com/images/IMG_9652.jpg

It looks like a grass snake.

Poor creature.

Peace.

Richard, how close were you to the snake? Were you not scared of it?

It doesn't have a hood so not a cobra. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png

David

Neither the cat nor the bird seemed to be scared and they are a lot smaller than me.

once a little snake with a similar pattern fell right in front of me from a tree above while I was standing on a slippery rock, trying to edge by a waterfall in a national park. it was painful, wanting to run away, but then I would have fallen into the stream. luckily, the snake was scared too and slithered away.
I'm so scared of these animals.

Maybe I shouldn't tell you that we found a 2 meter long snake skin round the back of the house last week. Then two days later a shorter skin. When did you say you are coming to visit? http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/smile.png

did you keep the skins?

I had a snake in my yard recently.... as long as they are not inside the house, I can put up with it.
one of the reasons why I moved to a crowded moo baan and not outside the city is that if I start screaming, about 20 people will hear me any time of the day and help me. I've heard it in practice - someone had a green snake in her bathroom down the street recently. some of the neighbours showed up immediately to beat it to death.

Grass snake? Or is it?

Nong Grace wanted to take it to school. I put it in a jar for her but I think her grandmother threw it away.

It would have to be a pretty slow cat indeed to wind as a meal for a baby python. I'm no herpetologist, but I'm fairly certain that is not a viper. I would just find a rice field and let it go. That's what my father-in-law up in Kalasin does. Vipers and cobras get deep sixed and pythons live out there days policing the rodent population in the fields.

It certainly does look like the type of harmless snake some ppl keep as pets, like a grass snake, corn snake or more likely a rat snake. There's no way that bird and that cat would be so confident around anything dangerous; they just know it.

I wish we'd had these in the outlying island I lived in in Hong Kong. There, we had cobras in our house a few times a year. I would just get a long-handled brush and guide them out the door. You kinda learn to live with them and I was more scared of the giant red centipedes.

I have told this story in another thread. I was on fieldwork in a a provincial area and one night I was bitten in my foot in a dark bushy garden by an unknown insect/animal which I did not get to see. I just felt the sting and when I told my companions they said it was best to see a doctor as snakes were common in that area.

The appropriate hospital was at least an hour away. I found out that not all hospitals treated snakes and other deadly insects bites ; only trained venomologists should handle such cases. When we reached the hospital, I was told that I needed to be observed for at least 24 hours to rule out the possibility of a deadly bite. And the treatment should only be given after the symptoms manifested. It's important to identify what bit me so that they could administer the appropriate serum. Giving the wrong one could kill me! I also found out that for highly dangerous snakes, in less than 30 minutes after the bite, you could die!

After the 24-hour observation period no symptoms surfaced and I was discharged. But the experience made me very scared of snakes (and other venomous insects) bites.

That snakes sorta belongs to the Rattle snake family. I hate snakes. :(

I think Sparky is right. The snake looks to be related to either the rat snake or the fish snake, although most fish snakes flatten their necks when they are threatened. It doesn't look like this one done that when it faced the cat.

http://www.siam-info.de/assets/images/25.jpg

Ptyas mucosa (Oriental Rat Snake)
Thai: (ngu sing hang lai)


http://www.siam-info.de/assets/images/90.jpg

Xenochrophis piscator (Checkered Keelback/fish snake)
Thai: (ngu lai so yai, ngu daeng hae

They can and will bite, but both are non-poisonous and harmless. If left alone they would scurry away from anyone.

Rat snake! No wonder why the cat is not welcoming it http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag.../laughlong.gifhttp://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag.../laughlong.gif

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...s/offtopic.gif Sparky's avatar+Snake thread remind me of Metal Gear Solid. http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/blues.gif

Peace.

I think you mean "a snake in the grass" a term used when one man dates a woman who is already in a relationship with another man.