This is the level of ignorance we have to face when it comes to snakes. The above video was posted to Facebook, and subsequently removed…but unfortunately for the culprit, not before I had saved it as a file to my computer. 
The video depicts a young aboriginal Taiwanese boy smashing a Ptyas dhumnades (Big-Eyed Ratsnake, or 過山刀 in Mandarin [literally, “The Knife that Crosses the Mountain”]) to death with a long piece of bamboo. This snake represents a threat to no one. It is non-venomous, very fast and agile, and will always choose flight over fight when confronted. Like all snakes, it is an indispensable part of the delicate ecosystem. Please feel free to share and give this idiot the scorn and notoriety he deserves.
This is a Galaxy Note video of a rare Alishan Habu we came across last weekend in Baling.
Here are a few recent snakes we’ve come across. My camera took a bath recently and is in the shop for repairs, so all I’ve got are some shots taken with a Galaxy Note for the moment…
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First Greater Green of the year for me this afternoon. The hills should soon be covered with these little guys. They are often confused with green tree vipers, but they are easily identified because of their completely green body, round head and black eyes. And they are diurnal. GTVs, on the other hand, are nocturnal, have a red tail (and a stripe extending along the side of the body), red eyes and a triangular head.
I like that snake. I’ve spotted it in several places. So bad that I don’t dare to grab snakes anymore :S
Last Saturday I run into a nice brown small snake that I’m afraid was dying or something. I spotted it on the bikeway to SanXia:
Wow, you guys find a lot of nice snakes up north!! So far mostly see bamboo vipers, banded kraits and cobras.
One thing i used to be very interested in were caecilians. I believe there are none recorded from Taiwan, however i feel i need to ask in case any other amphibians fans have thought along the same lines?
[quote=“jesus80”]Last Saturday I run into a nice brown small snake that I’m afraid was dying or something. I spotted it on the bikeway to Sanxia:
[/quote]
Oligodon formosanus - Taiwan Kukri Snake
Nice snake! They are egg-eaters, and their name comes from their slashing blade-like teeth that resemble the kukri knife of Nepal’s Ghurka soldiers. Where did you come across this one?
As I said, in the bikeway to SanXia 
But it was like stonned or dying or something… not sure why, but it wouldn’t move much, even when I finally grabbed it.
[quote=“Biota”]Wow, you guys find a lot of nice snakes up north!! So far mostly see bamboo vipers, banded kraits and cobras.
One thing i used to be very interested in were caecilians. I believe there are none recorded from Taiwan, however i feel I need to ask in case any other amphibians fans have thought along the same lines?[/quote]
Good question. I’ve no idea if Taiwan has caecilians or not.
I haven’t run into a green viper yet. And I have been to every type of forests here, high mountain, hill, bamboo forests and farms, rivers, trails, grass seas…
You have to go out at night to see them. Occasionally you will find them sleeping in trees during the day.
You have to go out at night to see them. Occasionally you will find them sleeping in trees during the day.[/quote]
Uhmmmm, so I will some time! I wanted to visit YMS by night by I have had the chance yet (not for something different from a night ride 
)
Here are a few ratsnakes we came across recently in Baling:
Mandarin Ratsnake:
Red Bamboo Ratsnake:
King Ratsnake:
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Here are some viper shots from here this year. Never have camera handy when see babies it seems.
3 vipers today, one was eating.
Saw a Cobra yesterday afternoon in the hills behind Dahu. Classic location in a stream valley in back of a gated community with old gardens and taro ponds with frogs. Just starting up an unmarked trail next to a brook when it raised its head and hissed and moved away quickly. The diamond-shaped hood with two eye-sized white markings. Not something I see very often.
Sucks to be a frog… 
I do a lot of farm work in the high mountians in Taidong county. And generally don’t see any snakes in the bush. Although once I get onto the roads usually see a few a week.
Had this one keep coming out to greet me everyday for a week or two when I took the dog for a walk.
We have one of those brown ones like the picture above ( I forget the name) siting in our garden at the moment. You can hear him hissing away each night, its a very comforting sound when sleeping as he keeps the mice away.
Looks non-venomous. I have recently seen more snakes on hikes in the hills in the greater Taipei area. Last sighting was a dark brown snake near Qingtiangang. Might have been a cobra, just saw the tail disappearing in the grass near the trail.
[quote=“kiwi432”]I do a lot of farm work in the high mountians in Taidong county. And generally don’t see any snakes in the bush. Although once I get onto the roads usually see a few a week.
Had this one keep coming out to greet me everyday for a week or two when I took the dog for a walk.
We have one of those brown ones like the picture above ( I forget the name) siting in our garden at the moment. You can hear him hissing away each night, its a very comforting sound when sleeping as he keeps the mice away.[/quote]
That’s a Ptyas mucosa (Dhaman Ratsnake). a big non-venomous snake which as its name suggests will indeed keep the mice away. I came across a huge one earlier in the summer in Taoyuan, and another fairly big one (at night, oddly enough, as they are generally diurnal) up in the mountains of Baling recently. Here’s a photo of that one:
