Another Snake in my Garden!

amyl

that is a nasty snake there, Nick!

ummmm but I doubt if the gardener must have mistaken on a piece of wire/rubber. Usually these ppl are good at identifying a snake.

BTW Just call all the garden strollers to be watchful and tell them to try to see the color and pattern of the snake. If its something like a krait (since u said its dark and not very big.....it cud just be a possibility) you freaking have to be very very careful at that. Better have cat/dog at home. These guys are good at warning us with their noise if they happen to spot one. Yet another possibility (since a pond nearby) is a keelback. Or it cud just be a normal rat snake. Both non-venomous.

Only if u cud get to capture the pics of the snake (with ur tele lens) and show it to some snake friend you can be at ease. Identification is of utmost importance. Just last night I saw a really really beautiful snake at my doors here. It has some of the most beautiful stripes I have ever seen. Wanted to handle it but held my urge as I cud not identify it in the first place. So just helped it cross the road in to the grassy park on the other side. Cud not get its pic as my camera battery was down .

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a'mar kono chinta nei

Nick-H

It was our decorator/carpenter just being helpful, and watering the garden, who saw 'the snake'.

Our actual gardener has searched today and says ...no snake.

But we certainly saw something that looked like a snake in next-door flooded lot a couple of weeks ago, so I guess water snakes are about --- and probably going further afield now, as the plot is almost dried out.

Shame you couldn't get a pic of your beautiful snake...

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robotvoice

See, I told you he would have no Idea.

Nick, it's not a song, it's a quote from Samuel L. Jackson in an embarassingly bad (so bad it's good? not quite) movie from the states. it's called:

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Nick-H

Vaguely heard of the movie, yes...

amyl

hmmm......
Time to get a camera phone at least, if not a new handy camera.

Prashant.M

Found a snake inside my house a few months back during renovation, actually my wife found it and I just followed the screams . Didn't know what to do, so opened the main door and let it out, never to be found again. It all happened in a flash. It was brownish in color, around a foot long. So I am guessing either a rat snake or a cobra but I am an ignoramus when it comes to snakes, well, for that matter about a lot of things. Was stomping around the house for a few days hoping not to surprise the snake . Still very careful in the garden especially at night.

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amyl

But boy....when it comes at homes its really a different story. My sister is so freaking scared of snakes that she not even sits with me in the TV room. (When am in the TV room its only Animal Planet/Nat Geo/Discovery). And once when my parents were out and she was all alone at home.....a really nice n adult cobra sneaked in from the side of the TV room. She was like out of this world, I can imagine. Shivering and crying out of fear and ran out of the house using another door. That cobra spent a good over an hour in our living room.....hooded and crazy n curious ppl surrounding it to watch its hood (probably praying it and offering some milk also. I was not there but can imagine so ) Heard they were waiting for a catcher-watchman from some place but sadly another killer fanatic reached with a spade before him and there it was a dismal death for that beautiful reptile. Can not help with such eventualities when it's found in residential areas tho unless some snakefriend is at a hail-distance from the sight.

New-South-Welshman

I've always had a phobia of snakes. I've ran over quite a few dead ones on my bike in Australia, and see my fair few in the wild in India. The most recent one I saw was before my most recent trip to India, at my home in Sydney back in January. I was walking to my car at around 10pm going to go pick up a pizza, when I saw something slither away from the drivers side of the car. I ran onto the road and yelled to my brother to turn on the front lights! I wonder what the neighbours must've been thinking.

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manojb

Even urban Kerala. A couple of years back, we had cobras mating in my parents' garden. Although we haven't seen any snakes lately, we occassionally see a mongoose running around, so there must be something that interests it.

Nick-H

My late mum had a fascination for snakes, and had many snake ornaments. One beautiful life-size bronze cobra had a visitor, when they eventually noticed they were sitting next to it, jumping up onto the seat screaming. Mum thought it was a great joke.

She had one of those rubbery toy snakes in her bag. One day, she took out some things from her bag to pay a restaurant bill (sitting at an outside table). Among them was the snake. A guy rushed over with a stick and neatly flicked it off the table into a nearby stream. She was a little upset at this!

I have to admit I would prefer not to share a room with a cobra, especially with its hood out --- they can spit their poison quite a long way, and can aim for the eyes of the person/creature they feel is threatening them.

I saw a mongoose at Chennai zoo one day... saome of the best things there are to be found out of the cages!

dzibead

Sama

I love snakes. as a child I used to find garter snakes in the yard and bring them inside, play with them, and let them go. One of my friends, her father found a bull snake (harmless, except if you're a mouse or something) in the woods, brought it home, put it in an aquarium in the garage. It got out and I was the only one -- I was about 10 at the time -- who could go into the garage to catch it (the old man wasn't at home.) I walked out of the garage with it draped around me like a python.

maybe that's why I teach yoga now....it's all that kundalini (snake) power that resonates with me....

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My India, 2005-2008
sama: Pali/Sanskrit: that state of consciousness which reflects neither attachment nor aversion

hfot2

We occasionally see garter snakes on our property.

I will never forget the time I was mowing the lawn at our village home [with a walk-behind self-propelled mower] and a stupid garter snake came in front of the mower before I had a chance to swerve left or right. Darn if I didn't chop the poor thing in half. Bad karma!

amyl

ummmmm not all cobras have that unique ability to spit, Nick! So you can keep a normal common Indian cobra..hey even Kind Cobra does not spit...so can try this King! They are majestic and look royal, indeed!

Special species of cobras.....spitting cobras. IIRC they are quite common in the NE...Assam n all. Once saw Steve playing around with one adult spitter. Yes he had his goggles put on but thats not because they aim in ur eyes. (kind of blind they are to be able to aim so specifically). Goggles are to protect ones eyes from the venom.

Spitters are quite common here I learned.
So on an island near here I was about to cross a log in the woods to take a closer picture of a monitor lizard (it was a beautiful fully grown one....menacing around in bores for food) but then I see something before stepping on it. It looked something like this.
Wow, I thought and with just a little vibrations I made it up and it gave a nice pose for this picture. Isn't it gorgeous!?! I fell in love with this one! Juvenile. Shimmering, beautiful pink tongue and nice pattern in its hood......but soon I escaped from that place lest his mother might just be around and that wud be nasty for sure! . It was a spitting cobra, yes! Did not spit as I tried not to agitate it..or may be I was just lucky!

amyl

While I still think these spitters do not specifically aim at eyes I read this story and her lab research with some Mozambique ones.

The excruciating pain following its venom in the victim's eyes might justify its 'intention' but I think its just that the cobra spits on the face(a moving, breathing object), thats it! Its just a matter of our structure that our eyes are in our face . I feel if a wagging knee is in front of a spitter....it wud spit on the knee.