Commotion at the house in Suphan, lots of raised concerned voices. After a minute I scamper over to see what was occuring. Sutiya is standing outside a little hut my brother-in-law sometimes sleeps in. 'There is a snake in the house' she says worriedly. One of the girls who works with us, John, is in the doorway trying to rescue one of the puppies who is in the house (yes we have yet another dog).
All this panicking. I decide to take charge. One of the landscape guys also arrives, a young fella called Jep. He has a tree branch (above pic). 'Don't be daft' I say, as I pick up the nearest weapon to hand, an aluminium bin with a spring lid (above pic). You couldn't kill a fly with that. I'll sort this out.
This would be straight forward, I'd walk in, see sid, slam the bin on his head, panic over. Although my method was simple, I had no doubt I would prevail in re-taking the lost ground of Dee's cabin. Curiously, the Thai's all seemed keen to follow....
It isn't until you enter a room where you know one of these things is lurking, that your confidence begins to 'flounder'.
'Where is it' I say to John, in poor Thai.
'Mai Leui. I don't know'.
Ah. Bad start. An enemy we can't see. After some nervous moving of the bed and sofa, we look to the bathroom.
'Hong nam. Bathroom' says John.
Slowly we open the door and there he is, this big, long, black fecking snake. He is hanging around the toothbrushes on the wall. He is also quite a size; I was expecting a little weeny grass snake, which I have encountered on many occasions. My bin 'crusher' is totally useless, he is too big, and his movements are flowing and deliberate, I don't think I could get within two steps of the bleeder before he'd have me...... Now I quickly realise why my new pal Jep has his long tree branch.
I stand there for a second before deciding this battle is already over, retreat, and shut the door. What is plan B then?...........Er...........
Jep now takes charge. He re-opens the door, and uses his branch to go past the snake and push open the louvered window in the bathroom, retreats, and closes the door behind him.
This snake is clever and doesn't waste time, bolting straight for the window; we didn't even have time to make it to the other side of the small cabin before he'd gone.
So what have I learned? I've learned naivety is never a good thing when dealing with snakes and that if you can avoid confrontation, do.
But most importantly, if in doubt, look at what the Thai's are doing. Could save you a lot of face, pain and hospital bills.
(anyone have any idea what snake it is? I dont')
Looks like it could be a python but I'd want to see the head first.
(I'm no expert though, and avoidance is always my strategy:)
Posted by: Hobby | June 07, 2009 at 06:20 AM
I agree totally with hobby. Don't mess with serpents when you don't have a clue what they are. And you reckoned 'battering with bin lid' wasn't good enough to make 'Ways to die-B'. Perhaps it should have been 'Bitten by Snake whilst battering with Bin Lid'. You plank!
Posted by: Wotchit | June 07, 2009 at 07:52 AM
That is one big mother fecker and you're a braver man than me. I would of locked the front door and put a for sale 500 baht sign on the wall.Buy yourself a bloody great big bin and next time climb inside it and pull down the lid shut.
Posted by: Martyn | June 07, 2009 at 08:23 AM
Ben it might well be a small python hard to tell from the pic! Imagine if it had settled in the toilet bowl (pythons like water)nasty surprise for someone!!
Posted by: Mike | June 07, 2009 at 10:06 AM
(shudder) That's one big snake.
Ditto on you being brave! There is no way I'd approach something like that. Not without knowing what it was.
And even knowing, I wouldn't be brave. I know because I’m been not very brave before.
Did it come up through the toilet? I ask because years ago I had a similar situation.
On morning, as usual, my alarm clock sounded. As usual, I reached over the man to turn it off. Only this time, I came face to face with a Copperhead on the nightstand, coiled around the clock radio.
Heavily pregnant or no, I moved fast.
I was at the door before I yelled for him (the man) to get out of there.
Not intentionally though. One minute I was in bed and the next minute I was standing at the door. Shaking.
We assumed it came up a hole that was alongside the main pipe in the bathroom.
I know this is silly, but I’m feeling shaky just looking at your snake photo! I really, really, really don’t like snakes.
And with boys, I had more than my fair share of opportunities to have snakes around the house. (shudder)
Posted by: Catherine | June 07, 2009 at 10:22 AM
heh heh heh, yes he was a surprise, I was only brave before I saw him LOL, so not brave at all as it turns out. Apparently he rushed through the front door of the cabin when he was spotted in the garden. It's not very nice, but that's one reason why they always keep lots of dogs here, as they find them usually, and take the hit. There is lots of water surrounding the house, so they sometimes find their way in. It's the first one I've seen this big, and I've been here a year, and on and off for 5 years, so I hope its another 5 years before I see another one (and hopefully not in the toilet bowl Mike :)
Posted by: The Thai Pirate | June 07, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Besides, don't diss snakes too much. They keep the rats and vermin down. And you are much more likely to get something nasty from them than get bitten by ssssslippy.
Posted by: Wothchit | June 07, 2009 at 12:36 PM
In my small experience with slipperies they always leg it. If you are silly enough to give chase that's your lookout. Mutts obviously are naturally curious and often corner them so get bit. It becomes a problem if they end up inside and cannot find an escape, or there is that element of surprise like Cat describes ....
Posted by: The Thai Pirate | June 07, 2009 at 02:04 PM
As long as our snakes stay in the pond they are safe. Get on dry land and all bets are off. Dogs sound the alarm and someone does the deed. I've gotten pretty good a pinning them with a crossbar and them relieving them of the smily end.
Posted by: Village Farang | June 07, 2009 at 03:55 PM
There's an interesting blog on this from Florida.
He suggests several techniques for dealing with snakes but the one that caught my eye which might help you guys is "Capsaicin Balms" (Tiger Balm). Knowing how much of that stuff is floating around Thailand. You wipe it around the bottoms of doors, cracks and holes in footings etc.
The whole thing is at:
http://jugalbandi.info/2009/06/how-to-deal-with-snakes/
Personally, last one I took out had a wine bottle across its nut. Don't recommend that though.
Posted by: leopardskin | June 07, 2009 at 05:04 PM
Great tips there! Village Farang yes I think I've seen that technique in action, but with a lizard, we pinned him, threw a towel over him and chucked him out the window, the lucky fella kept his smile! haha. Didn't realize the same technique could be used for slipperys, so thank you very much.
Leopardskin, that is VERY interesting re Tiger Balm. You may well have earned me some great brownie points there so I thank you. Wine bottle! classic, I like your style :)
Posted by: The Thai Pirate | June 08, 2009 at 12:29 AM
Aha, another one for 'Ways to Die - B - Bottle (Wine); Lethal to snakes and misc. reptiles, rodents and husbands'.
Posted by: Wotchit | June 08, 2009 at 08:36 AM
I hate that!
I've been in the hongnam on the family farm 2 times when I had to look up and see either a snake or a large lizard above me at the most inopportune moments.
Just be glad it didn't come out of the toilet at the wrong moment!
Posted by: Talen | June 09, 2009 at 06:55 AM
That is some snake! A much smaller one appears on my blog 'wildlife in the home' and I have a video of one leaving my house on facebook (search phanaperson).
Posted by: phanaperson | June 11, 2009 at 01:23 PM
Hi Phana, yeah he was a surprise, don't see them that big normally, hopefully won't again! Will check your blog :)
Posted by: Ben Shingleton | June 11, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Have to say I'm disappointed in you Ben. I expect Crocodile Hunter-style close-up stills and video of the Thai Pirate in hand-to-hand combat with that little slitherer's mum next time, no less :)
Posted by: pete, frogblogger | June 15, 2009 at 11:26 AM
LOL! you may be waiting a while Pete - maybe one night when I'd had one too many Leos I can stagger into the darkness and see what I find! TTP actually 'getting bitten' by a snake would make a good post though, one I'm sure lots of people would like to read! :D
Posted by: Ben Shingleton | June 15, 2009 at 03:59 PM
jezz, it's just a snake. i'm always trying to keep people from killing any snakes they see around out house near lomsak. i understand phobias and all that. there are poisonous snakes in thailand, so you have to be careful if you can't identify it. give them an escape route. they usually leave easy.
Posted by: thaikarl | February 01, 2010 at 07:17 AM