Malayan Pit Viper – Venomous – Dangerous
[Page Updated: 21 June 2023]
Calloselasma rhodostoma (Malayan Pit Viper, Malaysian Pit Viper)
Thais say: Ngoo gap pa
Length: Usually less than 1 meter. Female Malayan Pit Vipers are the larger and fatter snakes. Males of the species don’t make it to 1 meter long. I have only seen two in 12 years that were close to 1 meter long.
Range: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, Vietnam, Burma, and China.
Notes: These vipers are similar to North American “copperhead” snakes. They prefer dry, flat areas. They are known as lazy snakes. They may not move out of the way at all if someone is walking right toward them. After they bite they are known to remain in the same location. There are thousands of bites per year in Malaysia and Thailand from this snake.
These snakes are so dangerous when handled because they are not consistent with their behavior. One day they will be calm. The next, or the next 10 minutes – they will violently strike out lightening fast. Their preferred habitat is under dry leaves, wood, or rocks. They are active during the night mostly, especially during rain.
Thailand Snakes – Venomous and Non-Venomous snake information!
Nickname: Finger rotters – given by Al Coritz, Viperkeeper on YouTube. If they get you in the finger – you’ll likely lose part of your finger, hand, or arm without immediate care.
Habitat: Forests, rubber plantations, bamboo patches, farmland, grassland. Often lies in the short or long grass. These are terrestrial snakes that I’ve never seen climb anything.
Active Time? Day if cloudy and/or rainy, and night.
Food: Mice, frogs, lizards. Predominantly rodents.
Thailand Snakes – Venomous and Non-Venomous snake information!
Defensive Behavior: Partially coiled with neck in an “S”. Their strike is very fast. Their fangs are long – and in the front of the mouth. Some strikes are short, others involve the whole body as it “jumps” at the same time it strikes. Don’t underestimate the distance this snake can reach when striking. Also, this snake is VERY good at striking behind its head. Watch the video.
This pit viper has the longest fangs of any other snake in Thailand – including the Siamese Viper (D. siamensis).
King Cobras eat Malayan Pit Vipers. Larger Malayan Kraits may also eat them, but the interactions I’ve seen between them haven’t led to that.
Venom Toxicity: Very toxic. Venom is necrotoxic – it destroys all cells it comes in contact with – red blood cells, muscle, and ligaments. With a quick hospital visit after a bite you may just lose part of your finger or some tissue where the bite occurred. The venom causes a bite victim to bleed from body orifices – eyes, nose, mouth, ears, sexual organs, and sometimes fatally in the brain. Most people don’t die if they go to the hospital. Deaths occur when bite victims delay seeking medical treatment. There is an antivenom for this snake.
If you are bitten by this snake, do NOT wrap a tight band around the bite location. That will stop the venom from moving, from being diluted, and the tissue will suffer much more destruction.
Offspring: Lay eggs. Female guards them. Young are about 9 inches long and fast and thin. They are fully able to bite and have full-strength venom.
Malayan Pit Viper Eating Mouse Video – close-up of large fangs, strike, etc.
Malayan Pit Viper Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Viperidae
Subfamily: Crotilinae
Genus: Calloselasma
Species: C. rhodostoma
Binomial Classification:
Calloselasma rhodostoma
Video – Malayan Pit Viper Color Variety in Thailand
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Thanks
Shes doing much better, fortunately she only got one fang in her pointer finger the other fang grazed her ring finger , lots of localized swelling but after 2 days in the hospital much better. Nothing so far looks necrotic–Cheers!
My wife saw a Malayan pit viper,the darker colour climb down a 6ft garden wall that had vine attached to it.It was about 1 ft long and when my wife called me over it was on the ground and for a while I couldn’t see it,then I did coiled up.,Good camouflage.
Interesting, they’re not really climbers.
Something about the weather is driving snakes out in the fields, roads and / or homes. My daughter met face to face with a Spitter cobra, in the side yard, yesterday. In January of this year we had 2 spitters in the front yard, as there is a canal that runs along the road in front of the house. A year and a half ago, we saw our first MPV in the outdoor garage. It buffaloed the wife and had her running as it moved at her, not away. We retired to inside our home until a bit of time passed. Since then she has dispatched every snake she has seen, got to educate her somehow….