[kbalii]

Odd but a great thread. I have had multiple shanke encounters but non like what GTO had. Not on a 4X4. The closest one that we had was in Coorg when we travelled through in a willys dense forests and we spotted a 10 -12 feet long snake.

Well for the sake of everybody who would read this thread let me put down a few of my learnings from them. Firstly, snakes are more afraid of us than we are afraid of them. I have taken a lot of advantage of this fact in all my encounters. They will not attack you unless 1. they sense threat and they have no place to run, 2. you are close to its food / prey and it considers you competition, 3. You are close to its nest, 4. It is badly hurt.

Well how do you know if you are in any of these? well you can never be for sure. You can make a good guess though by observing the following.

While walking:

First, when you spot a snake, dont panic. It might have noticed you a long before you arrived there and it still there means it is trying to gaurd something or in other words you are in danger. Try to walk away casually in the opposite direction. Sometimes the snake might just have had a heavy meal and is too lazy. They is one in a thousand chance that you might find more snakes in the vicinity.

At home / office / car / computer

well for some people who are reading this might be wondering... in a computer??? well there have been instances where snakes have been found in ATX cabinets as well. They are found here only because of warmth (they are cold blooded, remember..), their security compromised or in search of food. If you find a snake in any of the above places, then the first thing that they would try to do is either act dead or run away. They will never fight in such circumstances. But if it has fallen on your 4X4 then they might be taken to be on shock and inturn un predictable. Mostly they might not attack. But try not to make any sudden movements. Please do not panic

Well I just thought I would share the above only on the light of only my encounters, where I have managed to put a lot many to sleep. It is also very important to know which snake you are dealing with. Most of the snakes in the not so dense forests might not be poisonous.

I have now stopped with hurting any of them, even if I do come across them. Guess I have grown up and understood them better.

I have had multiple encounters in the foot ball ground, since it was very remote and twice they decided to visit home.

[team suzuki]

Man thats really scary,this thread reminds when i ran over a snake with my sx4 in karnataka forest and got some slimy liquid all over my tyre,which i think was its poison.

[Srini76]

Seemingly tough experiences. Not a on road experience but will share it nonetheless. At the beach in Bahrain (No not a secluded spot) we were attempting to camp in through the night and later in the evening decided to wade in to the water. One of my associates walked out of water since he felt he had entwined his feet in see weed and we all got out to get refills and as he was stepping out we freaked it was a snake like thing. it slipped off his feet and disappeared into the water. I am not entirely sure if it was a eel or a snake but it was alive and long for sure !! Yes we did get the bloke check with a doc and all was fine.

Verbatim of what the doc said " If you have been in physical contact with a snake please do get it checked right away not only for the poisonous bite but also I am told some can leave nasty allergies"

Have fun and be watchful guys.

[DirtyDan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Have any of you had an experience with the slimy scaly reptile in your 4x4?

They are not slimey, they are leathery. Lawyers are slimey.

Originally Posted by team suzuki

...... i ran over a snake with my sx4 in karnataka forest and got some slimy liquid all over my tyre,which i think was its poison.

Tyres are not poisonous.

Originally Posted by kbalii

Firstly, snakes are more afraid of us than we are afraid of them.

Not in my case.

Originally Posted by kbalii

They will not attack you unless 1. they sense threat and they have no place to run, 2. you are close to its food / prey and it considers you competition, 3. You are close to its nest, 4. It is badly hurt.

5. It stalks you at an ATM and espies your PIN number.

Originally Posted by kbalii

Sometimes the snake might just have had a heavy meal and is too lazy.

No cross-species bashing on this site

[lambuhere1]

Originally Posted by team suzuki

got some slimy liquid all over my tyre,which i think was its poison.

Have a thorough wash of the tyre and dont touch it with your hands/legs and no body contact with the fluids.

Take care

[princezahed]

Interesting topic.Something that is totally to my liking.Most of the ways to avoid snakes have been put up by Samurai. As mentioned,snakes are deaf and only "hear" via vibrations. And unlike our general thought, there are very few species of venomous snakes in india and not all of them are capable of causing fatalities.

Snakes dont have poison,they have venom which is just modified saliva. Oh and yes,we can drink that venom and live to tell the tale.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by princezahed

Snakes dont have poison,they have venom which is just modified saliva. Oh and yes,we can drink that venom and live to tell the tale.

As long as you have no bleeding gums, split lips or ulcers.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by deepakhon

Scary indeed. What do you mean by snake kit? Something like anti-venom? I am not an expert here, but I heard that anti-venom depends on the type of snake.

Not anti-venom, the kind of stuff that we used on school trips. I picked up a snake bite kit from an Army store for 150 rupees. Cylindrical box that's very similar to this one. It also has a rope-like thing which you can use to stop the infected blood from flowing to the rest of the body.

Originally Posted by badboyscad

what i do usually is get hold of two long & sturdy sticks and try to shift the snake to nearby wilderness or

The village dude masterfully used a stick to remove the snake from the Jeep. Nope, he didn't kill it but just left it on the side.

Well for the sake of everybody who would read this thread let me put down a few of my learnings from them.

Thanks for the tips, KBalli.

Look at the attached picture. Despite setting up a tent with sheets, we actually slept on the bonnet itself (and then inside the Jeep). Why? Snakes! But the difference is, we expected them at this camping location. What happened recently just caught us by surprise!

[DKG]

Unfortunately snakes have earned a bad reputation more on account of people's ignorance not helped by legends and tradition.

I had once attended a presentation by the Friends of the Snake Society and was happy to learn that the majority of snakes commonly encountered are not poisonous. There are a couple of deadly poisonous ones and the real trick is in telling which one falls in which category

I think it would help if we carry somekind of a visual ready reckoner so atleast some of the panic is curtailed. Interestingly just a few days after I attended this meeting my dogs brought the house down barking at a sand python (I think) that showed up in our yard. I found myself quite calm as I brought out a bucket and gently covered the fellow and placed a stone on top. Next day I called the chaps from the Society who happily came home and collected the reptile.

Snakes like sharks suffer a horrid reputation more on account of the unfortunate miscommunication that seems to surround them.

[MuraliR]

pardon me for going OT.
but a thread like this will gain the required mileage with photos.

here are a few from my end.

[Guna]

One suggestion is to read and know something about different types of snakes found a in a given region so that at least you ae able to make out if they are poisonous or not and you are not u-nnecessarily panicky. 80% of the snakes are non-poisonous.

[sammyboy]

@Murali : Jeez thats a first , a tech savvy snake . Might have come to eat the "mouse"

[DirtyDan]

Obviously a management type.

[Samurai]

Actually there are only 4 major species of venomous snakes in India. I read this from Romulus Whitaker's (Madras Snake Park) book when I was 15. Armed with the knowledge from this book, I was able to confront my granny regarding various snake mumbo-jumbo which is considered conventional wisdom.

The 4 major types are Cobra, King Cobra, Krait & Viper. There are no other venomous snakes in India. It is easy to recognize the first two. The remaining two takes some practice and sightings. The krait usually has bands, the viper generally has triangular head.

[princezahed]

Originally Posted by DKG

Interestingly just a few days after I attended this meeting my dogs brought the house down barking at a sand python (I think) that showed up in our ya

That would be a sand boa. AFAIK there is nothing as such called as a sand python.

Originally Posted by bblost

As long as you have no bleeding gums, split lips or ulcers.

Correct. As long as it doesnt enter the blood stream.