Snake Identification - Southeast Asia

[snakesonaplane5]

Hi guys,
today i saw this snake eating a gecco. both animals had amazing colors and ive been trying to identify the snake, but since im a noob its a tough one to crack. hope you can help me

location is Southern Laos - Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) a group of islands in the Mekong River in Southern Laos.

[FWK]

Hello snakesonaplane5! Sorry for the delayed response but I am not terribly familiar with snakes found in your part of the world and wanted to put in quite a bit of reading before attempting to ID the beautiful little critter in your photo. And what a photo! Catching an act of predation, awesome. The fact that the snake is in the middle of eating a gecko offers a few clues as to what the snake is. It is obviously a constrictor and eats geckos. The only snake I could find native to your area that matched in both behavior and appearance is the Golden Tree Snake (Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima). They are mildly venomous, rear fanged (not medically significant to humans) who kill their prey via a combination of venom and constriction. They are well known for their fondness of eating geckos, particularly the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko), which is what I think is the gecko in your picture. Hopefully this helps, and thanks for posting. I learned quite a bit about snakes in Southeast Asia today. If you find any more critters please do share.