Thai:Color differences of the same specie of Kukri snake?+Malayan Pit Viper juvenile

[KraitedCobra]

Hi all. I found these 2 (Banded?) Kukri snakes in the same area the same night (07/02-2013).
Can anyone please confirm my thoughts regarding that these are the same specie of Kukri snakes, but with only color difference?
(The reason i brought these snakes home is for showing the thais and the burmese working at the farm i was herping at that these snakes is a none dangerous specie, these people said they were Malayan Pit Vipers (thai name: 'ngu ghap pa') and very dangerous, so to stop the arguements i let it strike me 3 times to confirm their wrong thoughts.
This is a very common specie in the whole Prachuap Khiri khan, actually the one i encounter most and alot of thais keep killing them because they think they're vipers and/or dangerous, as they do with most harmless species.



After releasing these snakes close to a pond, i went herping from twilight continuing into the night as always, but this time without seeing a single snake, ...until i was almost back to our apartment, only a few houndred meters from a local famous private school for kids, i thought i saw a small dead snake on the road.
When i stopped my bike, went back to see, i found a juvenile Malayan Pit Viper, i assume that it's no more than a week old or so (adding 3 pic's of it):





After bringing it to the farm to show them how a Malayan Pit Viper really looks like, i gathered some leaves before letting the viper out of the bag to circle up in the way this specie usually stay/hide and told them all to take a good look, bec this juvenile looks exactly like a full grown, and told them that once they have seen/studied a Malayan Pit Viper, they will/cannot ever be mistaken again.



After 'educating the thais and the burmeses a little' i released the Viper further out were there's alot of mountains and pineapple farms all around.


Last night about 20+km away in a different area, i found this Kukri snake climbing about 1m above the ground, also red in color, but a little brighter with more clearer brown-red visible bands than the red one above:



I just touched this snake to make it change position to get a good picture shot, then left it where it hang and kept on walking.
Can anyone please confirm that all these 3 Kukri snakes are the same specie?

This night i also found 2 Common Bronzeback Snakes laying on twigs not too far above the ground and 2 Long nosed Whip snakes.
This night was not too good, neither too bad as i saw 5 snakes all together. I only catch new species i haven't catched before, keep them the night over for picture shooting the day after.
This night i didn't find anything new.

Thanks and cheers from Hua Hin everyone

[infernalis]

you are so lucky to see these in nature.

[KraitedCobra]

Here they're everywhere not a bad idea to take a trip to Thailand, it's the country with most different snake species on this planet. Different species in different regions from the north bordering Myanmar/Burma&Laos to the south bordering Malaysia.

Here's a Striped Kukri juvenile i found on January 5




This little Kukri fellow i probably saved from doing the mistake by climbing into this deathrow, this one should be very happy i passed by and checked this vase out, January 5




Then finally out of the huge vase, (i think she's ashamed for not getting her head shampoed before this picture shot )



Cheers

[Will0W783]

Wow, very neat animals...I had not heard of the Kukri snake. What is the scientific name? You are very lucky to be able to see these amazing creatures in nature!

[KraitedCobra]

Banded Kukri snake: Oligodon fasciolatus
Striped Kukri snake: Oligodon taeniatus

Cheers

[Will0W783]

Thanks. I'm going to read up on them

[KraitedCobra]

They are usually very calm, and they don't often try to flee unless you try to catch them, then they can move pretty quickly.
They can often be seen laying either on a sandy road or beside of it during early mornings, they rarely circle up, but lay straight out.
At night they cross roads alot, and if i see a dead snake close to human settlements, it's usually this specie.
They tends to be everywhere, from deep into the forest bushes as much as close to houses and farms.
1 time we sat and drank with only a candle light on the table at a farm in the forest, one of these came crawling inbetween our feet.
I only saw the shadow of the snake, and grabbed the tail area with my hand and shaked it everytime it raised it's head after my hand so it could not strike me until a guy came with the flashlight so i could see what it was.
They can be pretty aggressive, and got independent knife-like moving fangs, so even by grabbing one of these around the neck, as u can do with most snakes, these ones will move their jaws and slip a fang out, so always hold your tumb under the head if u plan to hold one of these, your tumbnail will probably get some scratches.

The red one at the picture at the top of this thread is one of the most aggressive ones i've ever catched of this specie.
See how it raises and shape it self into an S shape to strike at the camera:



It even followed me for awhile, moving towards me striking in aggression

Cheers

[KraitedCobra]

Saw a big Rat Snake tonight sleeping on a branch in a bushy tree. Too high to reach with my tong from the ground, so i had to carry 3 heavy concrete blocks several hundre meters to have something to stand on. Bad grab with my snake tong so it slips away (I think it would anyway, even with a good grip, they're very strong).
A size of a snake like that laying that way in that height, should actually require 2 tongs or 2 people. I just had to let it go.
Not a big pain in the ***, as i recognised the pattern on the tail as a Rat snake i've catched before when i released it from my tongs.


Cheers

[Pareeeee]

Cool!!! (Can't think of anything else to say! "Cool" sums it up! :P)

[rinkhals]

Thailand is the place that ignited my passion for snakes again. The diversity of snakes and how often I came across them was amazing. Thanks for sharing these