They 're here already!
Damn, I lived in Taipei almost 6 years and traveled throughout the island (Yi-Lan, Taoyuan, Hualien, Kaoshung, Taizhong, ChuangHua, Miaoli) and never once saw a snake. Hmmm…
They are definitely coming out have seen 4 or so when out driving this week.
Where? and… was it raining?
Bottom of hualien county. one of the days it was raining. Rest was sunny weather. we ususally have one residing in our garden by now but they are a bit slow.
Here are a few of the snakes I’ve come across in recent weeks…I should pass 100 snakes by the end of April - WAY past my numbers at the same time last year!
King Ratsnake (Elaphe carinata) hiding behind a leaf, giving it the appearance of some weird hybrid viper…
Tandem GTVs…
Habu…
Red Bamboo Ratsnake…
My dog Ulysses and a DOR Buff-Striped Keelback…
Many-banded Krait…
A one-eyed, battle-scarred Cobra foraging behind a wired embankment…
Love your snake pics, keep 'em coming!
Agreed, great pics. Love the dog one (but what’s DOR?).
Dead on road?
Look at the camouflage on that Habu. A few centimeters back and he would be practically invisible to the untrained eye.
Dead on road?
Look at the camouflage on that Habu. A few centimeters back and he would be practically invisible to the untrained eye.[/quote]
Yes, sorry, DOR = Dead on road. And yeah, the habu has amazing camouflage, as do many of the other snakes in Taiwan. The krait, on the other hand, is like an animated neon billboard saying “Do Not Fuck With Me”. 
Almost forgot - by far the top find thus far this season was this glorious Mandarin Ratsnake we came across back on March 18th. Just an incredibly beautiful animal, and very VERY rare…
Here is a Red-banded Snake going to town on a large toad. I came across this scene while taking my dog for a walk last night on Tiger Head Mountain here in Taoyuan. When I came back to the scene an hour and a half later, the snake was still working on his dinner…
Hopefully the snake is immune to bufotenin and bufotoxin, otherwise it’s dead now. That’s a cane toad, Bufo marinis. With ear glands full of deadly toxins. Well, not deadly if you extract the bufotenin from the poison glands with methanol and smoke it, but still…
[quote=“onionsack”]Here is a Red-banded Snake going to town on a large toad. I came across this scene while taking my dog for a walk last night on Tiger Head Mountain here in Taoyuan. When I came back to the scene an hour and a half later, the snake was still working on his dinner…
[/quote]
The snake’s priorities seem to be: Swallow that giant chunk of meat first, worry about the big human with the bright light later. 
A) That’s not a Cane Toad (thankfully, Bufo marinis hasn’t taken hold in Taiwan) it’s a Spectacled Toad (黑眶蟾蜍/Duttaphrynus melanostictus)
B) You’d be shocked at what L. rufozonatum has evolved to ingest and digest. In addition to live toads, I’ve seen them peel dried, roadpancake dead toads off the asphalt and eat them like crackers. When Armageddon comes, L. rufozonatum will keep calm and carry on…
[quote=“onionsack”]
A) That’s not a Cane Toad (thankfully, Bufo marinis hasn’t taken hold in Taiwan)[/quote]
supposedly we do have it in the island:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ … _of_Taiwan
wiki link…bullfrogs could be a problem in Taiwan.
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According to my Taiwanese scientist friends, there is currently no significant population of Cane Toads in Taiwan, although the Japanese tried to introduce them on at least two separate occasions back in the day. Taiwan’s climate and terrain could certainly support a population, and probably WILL in the future. But if you run a search for 海蟾蜍 (Cane Toads), you don’t find any reference to any recent sightings in Taiwan, although I didn’t look very hard and would be interested if someone could dredge one up. At any rate, that is NOT a Cane toad in the video being eaten by a L. rufozonatum and this is a thread for snakes, not toads.
Speaking of which…if anyone is interested in going out on a night hike to look for snakes (and other wildlife), shoot me a PM and I’d be happy to try to meet up. No equipment, experience or knowledge necessary - I’ve got a ton of hooks, headlamps and flashlights I can lend. 
Well, no cane toads inTaiwan: that’'s good to know. Sure LOOKS like a cane toad though.