This is a tough call because Thailand has a few snakes that could kill you within a couple hours if you weren’t able to reach medical care quickly enough.
The King Cobra, if it got a good bite on you is the worst snake to be bitten by in the country. I have a friend who lost his little brother (adult brother) to a King bite on the shoulder that killed him in less than ten minutes. Luke Yeomans from the United Kingdom, all set to open up the King Cobra Sanctuary to the public in the United Kingdom was bitten and died within minutes as he had a massive coronary.
If you are allergic to the venom of the snake that bites you, death could come very quickly. Some snake experts recommend carrying around a Ventolin inhaler that people use for asthma treatment. If bitten by a venomous snake in Thailand you may start losing your breath. That’s when to take a spray. Others insist on using epi-pens at the first sign of anaphylactic shock.
I always have the Ventolin inhaler – I am slightly asthmatic so, in this case it’s actually a good thing.
Hi,
It’s been interesting reading on your site trying to find out what the snakes were i cycled past on a recent trip, maybe you can help.
I was cycling back from Si Sawat to Kanchanaburi last week, and almost cycled over maybe a 7 foot snake.
It was pretty stunning looking, i think a kind of triangular shape throughout and it was striped along its body. The stripes were a dark orange and a dark grey.
It freaked me out a bit but sped off as I noticed it about a few feet in front. I was going uphill and was acknowledging some motocyclists saying hi and then looked down and spotted it at last minute.
Saw a few others but this one struck me.
Any ideas i’d be keen to know,
cheers.
Hi Rob, thanks for writing.
It sounds like you ran across a rare mix of two different snakes – the Reticulated Python has what might be considered a triangle pattern, and is stunning. The other snake is the copperheaded racer – a rat snake, that has stripes like you describe. I’m joking of course – there is no mixed snake like this, but I can’t for the life of me guess which one you saw based on your descript. Can you answer a couple more Q’s?
Overall color? Thickness? The python would be about as big as your forearm. The rat snake as big as 4 fingers together. Was it moving fast or slow?
Hi there, sorry for such a late reply, must have hit my spam box or something if answered comments get sent to recipient.
Anyway, yes, it was thicker than my forearm, if not thicker. Definitely triangular, flat at the bottom, triangulating at the top. Yes, it moved super fast as did a back turn in the cycle lane which you get in Thailand.
I’d say maybe 5ft but it was in an S formation so difficult to tell.
Something similar but the lines were more equal:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/4048820024_e65d9f9f5d.jpg
And definitely thicker.
Sounds like a banded Krait” Nguu pok oy”
Had a similar experience near Boploi
I was pressure washing the stone wall in my garden and decided to clean the PVC pipes that allow the excess water to seep out when the soil is heavy with rain. After taking a break I went back to admire my work and seen what I thought was a large crack in the wall. On closer inspection it turned out to be a metre long snake. I decided to take a closer look as I was fascinated by it but my wife kept calling me away. I got the normal hose out to wash it off the wall and was surprised to see it fall to the ground and then rear up…..it was a king cobra!!!! Amazing and awesome sight to see but now I make sure to wear my wellies in the garden.
Photos! Would be great to find one in my own garden… get some photos next time, video even better! Cheers
I live behind a nature reserve in Ranong. My back garden adjoins it with a large lake. Snakes are every where but this was literally my first face to face encounter. I was so fascinated that I got close up and personal just to get a good look at it, not realising that it was a king cobra. Next time I will grab my camera and record it along with any other snakes I encounter.