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The other night ten of us on seven scooters went cruising fifty miles worth of narrow paddy roads between the lowland fields in our county. We couldn't have picked a worse evening: it had been cloudless, hot, and dry for the previous ten days; a full moon provided great visibility for predators; and a breeze made the already slightly chilly temps worse. True enough, during five hours of ass-numbing riding, we saw absolutely no snakes on the road. We only found two serpents when we got off the vehicles to search a few rice fields on foot: a young Multi-banded krait under a tin, and a Dinodon rufozonatum on the prowl.

But just when we were starting to lose the last bit of feeling in our butts, we found this wonderful gem on the asphalt: a Taiwan Kukri Snake (Oligodon forumosanus). Adults grow up to three feet, but this juvie was jes' as purdy. Mild-mannered, too - not a regular trait in kukri snakes, whose nasty temper in combination with their eponymous Gurkha dagger teeth have created much grief for many a herper.









My man Skink, hard at work


A selection from Skink's oeuvre:

Great snake! I'm a big oligodon fan.

Billy

Great snakes... Great Pics....

I want to know who of the ten let it draw blood before returning it to the sheath (Nature)?
Bill

Votre belle écriture m'apporte pax et lux.

Thanks, guys! Actually, none of us drew blood - for some reason he never bit hard enough to break any skin.

@Warren: NO FAIR! Latin = OK. French......not. But lemme try anyway: "your beautiful writing brings me peace and light"?

It was my experience that many individuals wouldn't hurt you at all if allowed to calmly crawl through your hands without restraint (may have been only the population I messed with.)

(The stupid joke I tried to make (emphasis on try) was reference to the legend that members of the "Royal Gurkha Rifles" would never return their Kukri (the English namesake of the snake) to the sheath without drawing enemy blood, and, if you coudln't cut your enemy, you must cut yourself! The knife thirsted for blood. - only a legend - not a funny joke.)
B

Bill, my father had an authentic Gurkha sword, which had the snake your finger option if you didn't cut someone's head off. Rule was, you had to draw blood if you drew the sword. We still have the sword. So, knowing the reputation of this kukri snake and the author himself referring to Gurkas, I laughed at yor joke and thought there was a parallel between the Ghurkhas and people who handle kukris.




By the way, very cool post. I would like to have seen a photo of the banded krait too. Peter B.

Thanks, Peter. That krait was just a a foot long or so, and we didn't want to ruin our night out by thrashing around in the grass in search for the snake and eventually getting in trouble. Plus, I've photographed a krait before and will again (they're all over the place here), so no big deal.

In fact, my sons and me found quite a large krait crossing the road just the other night; but again, no pictures: it was the first time the kids had encountered this species, and they were understandably excited, so I thought it more important to watch the children and the direction the krait was taking, rather than get absorbed in camera work and suddenly find one of the boys too close to the snake.