Snakes 2012

[onionsack]

Spring is just around the corner (although you wouldn't know it from today's temps) and we're now less than a month away from the herping season beginning in earnest in Taiwan. In fact, if you go far enough south down the island, the season never really ends. Here is a video of a few habus we came across last weekend near Kending National Park. One of them didn't take too kindly to my attentions and left copious amounts of venom slathered over the business end of my tongs. Another was a "gift" from one of the park rangers we'd met down there. He not only introduced us to a very productive herping road that we never would have found without his guidance, but also delivered to us a VERY large habu that he'd found on his way home after work. Somehow he'd wrangled the beast with his bare hands, and then bagged it with a large 7-11 plastic bag that he'd happened to have with him. Remembering our interest in snakes, he drove all the way back to Kending from Hengchun (where he'd captured the snake) and drove up and down the mountain roads looking for us until he found us. Couldn't believe it when he appeared out of nowhere at 1 a.m. on the same remote road he'd introduced us to the previous night and handed us the plastic bag with the snake inside. What an awesome dude!

[onionsack]

The warm weather is starting to bring out the interesting stuff! This Red Bamboo Ratsnake was found at the side of the road on a fairly busy street in Gueishan/Linkou. I think it must have plummeted to the sidewalk from the top of a steep cement embankment which separates the city from the jungle behind. There weren't any visible wounds, but it seemed a bit dazed. Bagged it, brought it to a suitable habitat deeper into a nearby forest and released it. Nice looking snake, and, being fossorial, not a common sight in this neck of the woods. Hope he makes it.

[Nuit]

great vids - more please, very educational.

fossorial - word of the day!

adj. Zoology. Adapted for or used in burrowing or digging

[Tiger Mountaineer]

we're now less than a month away from the herping season beginning in earnest in Taiwan

Chasing poisonous snakes around the forest in the dark? Looks awesome! Do you organize herping missions?

[Ex Animo]

Some of the dogs and I stumbled across this Taiwan cobra on the drive of The Sanctuary on March 28:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151440284250125&set=vb.887415124

Sorry about the video quality.

No sign of the beast since though.

[onionsack]

we're now less than a month away from the herping season beginning in earnest in Taiwan

Chasing poisonous snakes around the forest in the dark? Looks awesome! Do you organize herping missions?

"Venomous", not "poisonous"...we herpers are anal about the distinction. But hey, if you're interested in checking out Taiwan's herpetofauna, DEFINITELY send me a PM, the more the merrier! I'm based in Taoyuan, so usually just hit the hills around here, but I'll be coming in to Taipei this Sunday to traipse around Yangming Shan with a few herping buddies. We have all the equipment you need (headlamps/flashlights/hooks/tongs/bags etc..) so all you really need is a bit of curiosity. Looks like there might be some rain this weekend, but that is fine because snakes LOVE rain!

[Pingdong]

nice video. I have not yet found that species.

so far this year have seen bamboo and long nosed vipers a cat snake and a friends dog killed some ratsnakes a few weeks back.

also lots of lizards, toads and frogs out, but they are out all year anyway.

[onionsack]

nice video. I have not yet found that species.

so far this year have seen bamboo and long nosed vipers a cat snake and a friends dog killed some ratsnakes a few weeks back.

also lots of lizards, toads and frogs out, but they are out all year anyway.

Right on! By "long nosed vipers" do you mean these? Found a beautiful DOR one last year. Really hope to come across a live one this year. Here's a video of a juvenile King Ratsnake I found the same night as the Red Bamboo Ratsnake..

[Pingdong]

you know, despite every single aboriginal piece of art having those beauties in it here, I have not ever seen ONE in the wild! and the only living one I have ever seen was at taipei zoo

sorry for the laziness, these are the latin on the ones I find:

Boiga kraepelini (cat snake)
Bungarus multicinctus (krait)
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (i call these long nose vipers, I think im wrong now though)
T. stejnegeri (bamboo viper)

last fall saw a good amount of Lycodon ruhstrati in the hills on the roads. Also a lot of DOR


anyone ever found Euprepiophis mandarina? when I was breeding reptiles in Canada I was OBSESSED with this snake, among a few others found here. Though i no longer have an interest in captive animals, I am REALLY wanting to see one of these in the wild!


as an aside, one of my other passions while serious into herbs back home were caecilians, terrestrial ones. I have always to this day searched for them through my travels without luck. ANd as I know never recorded from Taiwan, but im putting this out there in case there are any others into these fascinating amphibians.

[onionsack]

you know, despite every single aboriginal piece of art having those beauties in it here, I have not ever seen ONE in the wild! and the only living one I have ever seen was at taipei zoo

sorry for the laziness, these are the latin on the ones I find:

Boiga kraepelini (cat snake)
Bungarus multicinctus (krait)
Protobothrops mucrosquamatus (i call these long nose vipers, I think im wrong now though)
T. stejnegeri (bamboo viper)

last fall saw a good amount of Lycodon ruhstrati in the hills on the roads. Also a lot of DOR


anyone ever found Euprepiophis mandarina? when I was breeding reptiles in Canada I was OBSESSED with this snake, among a few others found here. Though i no longer have an interest in captive animals, I am REALLY wanting to see one of these in the wild!


as an aside, one of my other passions while serious into herbs back home were caecilians, terrestrial ones. I have always to this day searched for them through my travels without luck. ANd as I know never recorded from Taiwan, but im putting this out there in case there are any others into these fascinating amphibians.

Ahhh...P. mucrosquamatus is the habu....several of which are in the video at the top of this thread. They are fairly common, at least around here. Whew, was going to die of jealousy if it was indeed hundred-pacers you were talking about! Haven't seen a E. mandarina here yet, either...but that is at the very top of my list of "must-see-this-year". We had an excellent night of herping tonight in San Zhi, by the way - three dinodons, two bamboo vipers, two kraits, a slug snake, and...some kind of eagle, which actually permitted me to pick it up. Torrential rains and thick fog made the going tough, but we were rewarded for our tenacity with some pretty amazing creatures!