[suhaas307]

I've heard of a lot of instances, in Bangalore, where snakes crawl out of commodes/toilets!

Is this possible?

The article printed in the paper stated that snakes find themselves in drains and sewage pipes, and before you know it, they manage to crawl into your bathrooms via the toilet.

Imagine you're sitting on the pot and a snake crawls up where the Sun don't shine!

After reading that article, needless to say, the next few weeks in my bathroom were dealt with by keeping my eyes peeled for surprises.

[Naturalist]

I read about how snakes protect the eco system from an article. To the benefit of all of us:

1)Snakes play a critical role in our environment, because of their role in the food chain.
2)Different types of snakes perform different roles.
3)Numerous snakes are top level predators, for example, a single rat snake lands up eating over a 100 rats annually.
4)They perform a crucial function in controlling insect and other invertebrate populations.
5)Snakes in turn are food for other predators, such as foxes and hawks, and so discharge an important role in linking higher and lower feeding levels.
6) Snakes in the farms help control rats (and other animals) which destroys the agriculture habitat and much more.

Lets take a oath not to kill any snake on sight and instead call someone who can safely handle it and leave it in the forest area.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This shot was taken at my office grounds this weekend, currently covered almost fully with dry grass and shrubs. The height of the vegetation varies anywhere from 18 inches to 6ft. It is an jungle out there. One would wonder what lurks there other than my Jeep.

Oh my, you can definitely hide anything you want in that tall grass.

My night-shift receptionist wanted to call his friends and try catch the Python. I suddenly remembered how a BHPian mistook a Russel's Viper for a Python. I immediately barked orders not to touch the snake until I am there.

A lot of people do the same mistake. Especially if the python is a juvenile, it is even more confusing.

When I reached there, his friends were already gathered. After a close look at the snake, I figured it was indeed a python. It was too fat to be anything else. So I let them go ahead with the operation, apparently they have caught a few snakes before.

Of all the snakes, I am really surprised a Python managed to find its way to a populated area. Cobras, Rat snakes, vipers are common, but a python. Atleast we know now that there are still pythons out there in the wild.

Good thing you guys left it in some forest, else if you had left it at end point, it would have probably have ended up back in Manipal.

[anarkanu]

Originally Posted by princezahed

The following is a Striped Keelback. It is common throughout India and is a very harmless, non venomous snake. Notice the 2 yellow stripes running across the entire length of the snake, hence the name. It is a very gentle snake and feels comfortable when handled, provided you do not rough it up. They never ever bite and feed mostly on small frogs and insects. This particular snake popped up in front of our portico in the estate and I made the most of it to capture some pictures and then let it go on its way. I use these gentle snakes as a way to educate guest's who visit our homestay about snakes, the myths and realities.

Next post will be that of another snake that is found exclusively in the western ghats.

Great going Princezahed, Just stumbled upon this thread on snakes while looking up some information on snakes. I had no clue Team-Bhp had such a awesome discussion going on. Am going thru the whole thread at leisure whenever I get some time.

I have been travelling to coorg often this past few months. Am kind of looking to make a move to coorg in near future. Just am little wary of the creatures of slithery kind,so hoping to know them better beforehand. Taking the cue am also hoping to attend one of the herpetologist workshop conducted by Dr. Whitaker soon(if i could convince my wifey on the cost that is )

Where exactly do you stay on Murnad road? Hope to stay over at your homestay next time and get to understand more about the coorg wilderness esp. about the snakes. Is there any specific book on snakes in Western Ghats/coorg that you could suggest. thanks

[Samurai]

Really love this story. Wish we could do this in every corrupt government office.

Snake conservator dumps snakes in Tehsil office - YouTube

[princezahed]

Originally Posted by anarkanu

Great going Princezahed, Just stumbled upon this thread on snakes while looking up some information on snakes. I had no clue Team-Bhp had such a awesome discussion going on. Am going thru the whole thread at leisure whenever I get some time.

I have been travelling to coorg often this past few months. Am kind of looking to make a move to coorg in near future. Just am little wary of the creatures of slithery kind,so hoping to know them better beforehand. Taking the cue am also hoping to attend one of the herpetologist workshop conducted by Dr. Whitaker soon(if i could convince my wifey on the cost that is )

Where exactly do you stay on Murnad road? Hope to stay over at your homestay next time and get to understand more about the coorg wilderness esp. about the snakes. Is there any specific book on snakes in Western Ghats/coorg that you could suggest. thanks

Hey good to know your planning a shift to Coorg.its certainly not as easy as it sounds.the jungle creeps out most of the guests who visit our home stay.
Am not sure if you Will find any book on the snakes in Coorg,but you can try snakes of India by Dr Rom Whitaker.

[Naturalist]

Yesterday my friend had a surprise visitor early morning 7am in his toilet. A baby cobra measuring about 60cm length was playing on the shower pipe.

He had to call the local snake catcher to catch it. He was freaked out but his apartment manager told him that this is absolutely normal.
By the way he stays in Electronic city about 1 km from the main road.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^ Baby or otherwise, I would freak out if I found a Cobra in my toilet. And I have seen more than a normal man's share of snakes in their natural habitat, in Kerala.

Don't know what the connection is between this thread getting active and me coming across a snake. Last Saturday was coconut-picking day at our home in Kerala and me and the picker had just started work at our land adjoining the river. He climbs the 1st tree which is on one corner of the plot and where there is quite some wild growth of grass/shrubs/bamboo etc - I am very vary when going into this area. He is halfway up the tree when he stops and immediately I know something is amiss. He calls out to me, "Can you see that guy curled up on the adjoining plant/tree?" I can and it is a snake, slightly yellowish, maybe an 1nch or 1.5 inch round and about a metre long, curled up on the branches of a shrub. I am about 15ms away and the snake is like 10ms off the ground, can't make out its head.

Sensing the attention, the snake cooly dangles onto other branches and vanishes into the thicket of our neighbour's plot. I wished I had my 15x zoom camera with me - the cellcam would not be much use. The guy continues his climb up the tree, plucks coconuts and when he is back on terra firma, I ask him what snake it was. He says, "Cobra", as if it is just a ratsnake. I had plans about making that part of the plot a cool fishing-spot, since it has shade all day long. But not anymore. Thanks.

Do Cobras usually climb trees ? My friends say it would have been just a rat-snake, though no way of knowing who is right.

[Lukeskywalker]

Wednesday last, we had just finished lunch and my mom was feeding our baby daughter sitting by the French windows in our dining hall, suddenly she sees "Steffi" our GSD trying to attack something, she asked me to check and on looking, I saw her trying to drive away a snake!! I looked closely and the snake in turn had it's hood raised, luckily the windows were closed and I opened the main door and called the dog inside.

Then I went out to see what the snake was up to, it slithered into our garage, my brother went and opened the doors to see where it went and we saw it climb up onto an unused foldable cot kept inside, it sat there for more than half an hour.
Meanwhile my mom had called a snake catcher whose number was listed in our local citizen's forum newsletter, he promised to come in under 20 minutes but actually arrived in an hour.
He walked in, asked where the snake was and on being shown he went in and picked it off like he was picking up a piece of rope. He calmly puts it into a bag and walked out. The snake was about 3 feet long. The snake catcher asked for 301/- rupees which we paid and asked me to write down the whole encounter in his diary.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

He calls out to me, "Can you see that guy curled up on the adjoining plant/tree?" I can and it is a snake, slightly yellowish, maybe an 1nch or 1.5 inch round and about a metre long, curled up on the branches of a shrub. I am about 15ms away and the snake is like 10ms off the ground, can't make out its head.

I ask him what snake it was. He says, "Cobra", as if it is just a ratsnake.

Do Cobras usually climb trees ? My friends say it would have been just a rat-snake, though no way of knowing who is right.

The "Yellowish" tells me it was a rat snake, though I am no expert ... was it only the underside that was yellowish or were you referring to the color of desert sand overall?

--Ragul

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Do Cobras usually climb trees ? My friends say it would have been just a rat-snake, though no way of knowing who is right.

sb they do and perch themselves on trees to get a better view of the ground below while hunting.

Source : NGC , King Cobra and yeah just watched the program on TV an hour back .

[saleem_k]

I visited Thol bird sanctuary 3 weeks back. This is located 30 kms from Ahmedabad. We reached there early morning and just near the entrance was a small stream where my friend spotted this snake trying to attack a bird sitting near the stream. It was quite early in the morning and the light was further reduced due to the thick vegetation around and this is the best I could capture.

[twistwrist]

Found a snake mid afternoon near to our office entrance in bangalore. It had coiled on GI water pipe. It was later caught and released.

[Jerrycan]

This Snake was found in the Rear wheel Brake Drum in an MM550,I picked up from Ordnance Depot at Avadi. The Jeeps were towed out of the campus and as my assistant removed the rear Wheel, we found this

[supremeBaleno]

^^^ It's a Jeep thing, you see. Even the crawlies get it. :-)