Green snakes

The snakes come out in the rainy season, and though we struggled initially to tell the various green snakes apart, we're now herpetologically schooled, having had our fair share of visitors at home. This guy, hanging out on the sculpture on our tamarind tree, is a pit viper, the green snake we don't want hanging around in our yard and with our daughter Luciole.

The pit viper, known in Thai as the "ngu khiew haang mai" - or the green snake with the tail of fire (or fire tail) - is bluish-green, with a deep red tail. His eyes are beady and bright yellow.

If we reach out to get rid of him, he coils and prepares to strike, unlike the harmless snakes, like the one below, who is shy and quickly runs away if we approach.

 

This one above was one of two pit vipers that were coiled around each other in some trees in our backyard. They were among the five that we found in one week in our yard. The venomous bite, though not mortal, hurts and causes massive swelling, say neighbors who have been bitten.