Red-headed Krait – Thailand Snake Journal
Red-headed Krait found while herping in Thailand
Yesterday I headed out to herp with a guy from the UK. We chose a jungle that bordered a national park for our adventure and walked around for just over an hour when we came upon a snake climbing up the side of a 5 foot wall of dirt along the path we were walking on. My friend instinctively reached out to grab the tail, I only saw the red tail – and I said loudly and quickly “DON’T TOUCH IT!”
He had seen it first. I had only seen the tail – which was enough for me to call it either a red-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps), or a Blue Coral snake – which also has red tails (Calliophis bivirgatus flaviceps). I was pretty certain I could distinguish a rather pronounced spinal column ridge. After some discussion my friend agreed and we called it a Red Headed Krait. He had seen the snake much more clearly than I did – since he looked at it for 2 seconds before deciding what to do. He said it had a bright red head and blackish/bluish body, then the long red tail that I saw as well. He estimated the length at a meter.
This is the 2nd red headed krait I’ve found in the daytime. It was on the side of a hill in the shade – at 1400 hours and bright sunshine. They are supposed to be primarily nocturnal, like the other Bungarus (Bungari), so others that have seen it have said. Still – I have seen accounts online of these snakes being found in the daytime as well in Malaysia. I don’t think one can say these are nocturnal animals by any means. They are active by day and at night.
So, back to the story. We climbed the vertical hill and searched through very thick brush for 30 minutes to attempt to get just one more sighting to confirm what we saw, and if at all possible – catch it for some photos and videos. We never got a 2nd chance. In hindsight the krait could not have spun around quickly to bite if one of us had grabbed the tail. The front portion of his body was already in the thick brush. But, at the time there was no way to assess everything – the danger of the situation… and react to catch the snake in a safe manner.
Better to err on the side of caution – right?
But still we’re both dreaming of a lovely red-headed krait that is still running around that hill – and probably very close to where we saw it. We’re putting that spot on the “every time we come here – we check this spot” list, like we know you would too!
We did catch another snake and a VERY odd bug – both of which I’ll write about for tomorrow or in 2 days.
Here are two videos of Bungarus flaviceps – the red headed krait…
Video 1 – Red Headed Krait – Bungarus flaviceps caught in southern Thailand:
2nd Part of Red Headed Krait video:
I saw this snake in the Arkansas River March 2019. It was large, at least 6 feet. It’s head was a bright shiny red and the body a dark brown. It’s head was above the water and it was swimming downstream. I saw if from afar due to the bright color of it’s head. I went to the edge of the water and it went under and tied itself in a knot like a pretzel. It then came up and went on down the river. There are no snakes like this in Arkansas and am positive this is what I saw after researching it. I wonder how it got there and why. I knew at the time I was witnessing something very special. It was amazing. I know little about snakes – was just standing on the edge of the river. I hope they do not come to this country, though!