Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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SNAKES Alive!
And all around you in Chiang Mai

Text & images: Sjon Hauser

A few years ago, one of the local magazines published a story full of suspense and horror. Written by a farang resident, it was about a snake that intruded into his townhouse. After nerve-wracking action, he at last drove it out. Although the frenzy generated by this apparition precluded cool observation, it seems likely from the writer’s description that the intruder was, in fact, a golden tree snake (Chrysopelea ornata), a small, inoffensive and beautiful type quite common in town.

Most people, whether Thai or foreigners, react with fear, or even panic, upon their rare encounters with serpents. Exceptions to this are certain villagers, generally regarded as country bumpkins by urbanites, who are connoisseurs of snake flesh, often ready to take great risks when catching poisonous specimens — a major cause of serious snake bite cases.

Because of the general attitude, and also the creatures’ rather shy and retiring nature, their beauty is seldom appreciated, especially when compared to, say, birds or butterflies. This is a real pity since Thailand is rich in their species (at least 160), among them many visually striking or behaviourally interesting ones.

They may not often be sighted, but they are, however, quite numerous, even right here in town. Your garden could be the home territory of several of them, and some might even reside indoors, like the above-mentioned non-poisonous golden tree snake, a good climber that often gets between ceilings and roofs while hunting its prey: geckos, birds, and mice. While this species is completely harmless, if you live just out of town, two-metre-long deadly poisonous kraits might on occasion slither through your garden. At least twenty serpent species (perhaps more) live in and around town, ranging from tiny flowerpot snakes (less than twenty centimetres long) to pythons five metres in length.

Many are nocturnal hunters, and this, combined with their secretive nature, makes snake-spotting less rewarding than bird-watching. Dead specimens are a common sight on the roads, though. As their locomotion is dependent on the friction between their body and the surface on which it rests, they are somewhat handicapped once they venture onto the smooth asphalt surface of a highway. Thus the rate of road-kill is high. Regrettable as this is, it does however offer the opportunity for registering their rate of occurrence, through studying the remains, to get some rough idea of the distribution of the more common species. At least, this has been the way I’ve learned much about them over the past six years.

While riding by motorbike on many trips through all the country’s regions, I have come across thousands of their carcases — averaging about one every ten kilometres. Many of these “road pizzas” (as one friend named them) were not immediately identifiable. They had been squashed flat by the tyres of many passing vehicles over hours or even days, while also exposed to fierce sunshine or monsoon rains, not to mention the activities of ants and the micro-organisms involved in decomposure. Such extreme transformations, though, honed my ability to observe accurately, so that by focussing on fine details it was possible to identify the species of the victim. The distribution of tiny grains of pigment on a few scales left intact, for instance, could be the key to the identification of an otherwise unrecognizable, crushed and rotting specimen.

Fascinating as these opportunities were, on the downside the putrid stench was often nauseating, while sometimes columns of fiercely biting red fire-ants transferred their attention from their first objective to me — on one occasion some of them even reaching my groin before I could beat a retreat back to my motorbike.

But while such studies certainly have their drawbacks, the excitement of finding a recently-terminated largely undamaged specimen of a rare species, with the chance to study and admire its fantastic colours and patterns, was always rewarding. What’s more, the knowledge thus gained has proved really invaluable when observing live ones — on the road or elsewhere. Although far from being an expert, I can now usually tell at first glimpse just which species it is that is already poised to streak away.

Chrysopelea ornata, the tree snake we began with, is among the most common of species in town. Its overall colour is dark green, so the Thais call it ngu phra in after the green Hindu/Buddhist god Indra (Phra In in Thai, with ngu meaning “snake”). Actually, a close study reveals its scales are pale green with black markings. If you’re lucky, you may someday see it jump from a tree and, flattening its body, glide through the air to the ground. Hence its other common name, “the flying snake”.

Another prolific local species is the long-nosed whip snake. Since it is bright green with a very slender body, and has a pointed snout, it is highly distinctive with little chance of being mistaken for any other kind. Even though it is in fact only mildly poisonous, many Thais believe it is not only dangerous but its bite is potentially fatal. If it resembles any other snake at all, it is the green pit-viper (Trimeresurus spec.), which has a similarly vivid hue. The latter’s body, though, is comparatively thick, with the rather triangular head distinctively set off from the body by a narrower neck, while its reddish tail offers a further distinctive feature. Such vipers are highly poisonous, with a painful bite that can cause serious blistering and ulceration, though it is seldom fatal. Nationally, they account for a high percentage of serious snake-bite cases. Although the (green) white-lipped pit-viper is common all over lowland Thailand (where it may inhabit urban areas), I’ve never come across one here in town. Neither have I ever spotted a Pope’s pit-viper, even though they are common in the surrounding mountain forests.

Another common type locally is pale brown with about twenty dark brown blotches spaced regularly along the body, while the dark markings on its head look like a mask. Because of its bodily colouring, the Thai call it ngu bi kaeo — alluding to its resemblance to a traditional bamboo flute. In contrast, the English name of Oligodon fasciolatus is the “kukri snake”, since their rather large teeth resemble the fearsome curve of the Gurkha warriors’ sacred kukri knife. This specialization has evolved due to their habit of slashing the eggshells of other reptiles, and then enlarging the incision till they can push their heads inside to devour the contents. With this dentition, they can inflict nasty cuts on humans which, given their ill-tempered disposition, they are much inclined to. They are, however, non-poisonous.

Yet another beautiful kind that is quite common in the area around Chiang Mai University is the harmless Laotian wolfsnake, Lycodon laoensis. Its shiny black body has some twenty bright yellow crossbars. It is seldom longer than fifty centimetres, whereas the banded krait, Bungarus fasciatus, also with yellow and black stripes, can grow up to two metres. Banded kraits have a characteristic body that is triangular in cross section, hence the Thai name ngu sam liam, or “triangle snake”. I’ve never seen them in town, but they are common in such neighbouring rural areas as the rice paddies of San Sai and Doi Saket districts. They are extremely poisonous and, unlike most snakes that simply strike, they tend to inflict a “chew bite”, thus injecting more venom. Though lethargic during the day, they become active at night, hunting other snakes, and may bite humans without provocation. This can be fatal unless promptly treated with an antivenin injection.

Another nocturnal hunter is the sunbeam snake, Xenopeltis unicolor, with dark scales that have an iridescent reflection in sunlight. It preys on other creatures, including snakes, while in my mu ban (housing estate), I once even came across a case of cannibalism. With humans, though, this non-poisonous type is remarkably docile. Biologists classify them as ‘primitive’ since they are relatively unspecialized. For instance, unlike most snakes which have only one lung, they have two. (On the other hand, the males of this and all other species have two penises!)

Probably the most common type in Thailand is the chequered keelback, Xenochrophis piscator, a relative of the European grass snake. Oddly enough, although non-poisonous it is bite-happy. “Chequered” refers to the the dark spots in alternating rows on either side of its brownish rather thick body, while “keelback” describes the tiny keels (ridges traversing the body scales), with the most pronounced of these along the top of the spine. Its preferred habitat is inundated paddy fields where it hunts fish and frogs. Many end up as road-kills along the irrigation canal highways from Suthep Road to Hang Dong. Despite its behaviour, it is not truly aquatic like, for example, the small yellow-bellied water snake, Enhydris plumbea, which has a yellow or ochre belly sharply contrasted with its olive back. Ubiquitous in swamps, canals and ditches throughout the valley, it is viviparous (giving birth to live young) and during the rainy season road-kill victims are common, amidst a litter of aborted off-spring.

To the east of town, towards Doi Saket and Sankhampaeng, from the evidence on Highway 1317, there is a large population of the less-common Indo-Chinese sand snake, Psammophis condanarus. A fast moving daytime hunter, this beauty has a pale olive or buff body with four dark brown longitudinal stripes and characteristic markings on its head. Its scales are smooth and shining, and it polishes these with an oily secretion from its nostrils. One theory to account for this is that by so doing it seals the scales to reduce the loss of body fluids. Another is that it may involve some type of chemical communication.

At least ten other species live in and around town, among them the copperhead racer, which may feign death when threatened, and the huge pythons that swim in the River Ping at night. I hope to have the chance to write more about such species in future. But for those who would like to learn more right away, the Photographic Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Thailand and Southeast Asia, published by Asia Books and on sale in most bookshops in town, is an excellent source.

(Text & images © J.M.Cadet 2006)
(The author lives in Chiang Mai. His books - The Ramakien: the Thai epic among them - are on sale in major book shops).