Thanks TG! That’s almost certainly him!
Nice to know he’s not dangerous.
Great photos onionsack … if somewhat unnerving.
Some of those pictures are awesome, really.
I wanted to send you a PM weeks ago for going herping but Forumosa was down…
I also forgot to post this picture. I saw this poor bastard in the road to Wanli:
[quote=“jesus80”]Some of those pictures are awesome, really.
I wanted to send you a PM weeks ago for going herping but Forumosa was down…
I also forgot to post this picture. I saw this poor bastard in the road to Wanli:
[/quote]
Yeah, been coming across a lot of Greater Green DORs like this one on my bike rides. Always a pity. Let me know when you want to meet up for a walk in the hills, I’m always happy to go out on night hikes with anyone no matter what their level of experience. For those who have never been on such a hike, I guarantee a transformative experience where all your prior illusions and misconceptions about snakes will disappear. 
Any time, really. Not this Saturday, but I’d say that even tomorrow would be Ok.
All credit to onionsack and whoever else may be running the site with him! Great identification tool
The frog’s expression: “Here we go again. Good night… sigh…”
Great stuff, Onion Sack, as usual.
Up on the 北橫 with one of my good friends…
I cringe every time I see the fire departments using those barbaric gardening tools to remove snakes…
(made it to Baling tonight, by the way: 28 snakes up there tonight, and two more earlier in the day on my local hill in Taoyuan!)
[quote=“onionsack”]
I cringe every time I see the fire departments using those barbaric gardening tools to remove snakes…
(made it to Baling tonight, by the way: 28 snakes up there tonight, and two more earlier in the day on my local hill in Taoyuan!)[/quote]
Baling sounds far from Taipei 
When’s the next time you come by here? even if it’s Sanxia, I’d join
[quote=“jesus80”][quote=“onionsack”]
I cringe every time I see the fire departments using those barbaric gardening tools to remove snakes…
(made it to Baling tonight, by the way: 28 snakes up there tonight, and two more earlier in the day on my local hill in Taoyuan!)[/quote]
Baling sounds far from Taipei
When’s the next time you come by here? even if it’s Sanxia, I’d join[/quote]
I have a buddy in from the USA visiting and he is champing at the bit to get to Baling so we might head out there again tonight for a dash up and down the hill. There’s a small chance I’ll hit Yangmingshan during the DAY over the long weekend. I’ll PM as soon as I know I’ll be in town. Oh, here’s a short video of a Hatori’s Coral Snake I came across on my last ride up there…
This weekend I’ll be around Wuling (somewhere more in the South that Yilan), but I’m sure that you’ll still herping next week 
I’ll look for snakes tonight wherever I camp 
WTF… 2 roadkills in THE SAME village in number 7 something (going to the south), and another roadkill in Bei 28 (going from Wanli to Taibei).
I’m not very lucky :S
What I saw two nights ago in the mountain is a super cool worm which head was like a 2 thirds moon that was used for analyzing the terrain. Apparently the thing was bling. I’ll post crappy pictures later (sub potato quality)
Yeah, Metal Gear Solid rocks!
Last night I decided that after a lot of commuting and touring my tyres got too plain, so I decided to go to GuanYingShan and shape them properly. Once in the mountain, I thought that I could look for snakes too… so I went to a “remote” and creepy backroad I know… and bingo. A tiny sneaky bastard was slithering in a way too straight path into the dark, running away from me. I had time only to take the photos you can see under these lines. I was so excited that I finally had this encounter that I almost grab it from the tail (it didn’t look that dangerous to me, but again I know little to nothing about Taiwan snakes). I hope the bad quality doesn’t stop onionsack from identifying it. The head was slightly long and the “cheecks” were a bit pronounced. Under a meter long.
Holy shit!
Due to the body shape and color I was thinking that the snake I spotted yesterday was most likely a false viper (snakesoftaiwan.com/Macrophis … _rudis.htm), but the pattern still didn’t really match what I saw (and what can more or less be seen on the picture). Because of color, shape, and head shape, it could also be a small python on a really strict diet, but nope, no way that thin thingy was a python/boa.
Now… the pattern on the back totally matches the Taiwan Habu (snakesoftaiwan.com/Protoboth … amatus.htm). For the size and thickness it should be a very young specimen. Still I would expect a habu (a viper, right?) to be shorter and thicker… but I don’t really know much about snakes.
EDIT: may be it was a cat snake? snakesoftaiwan.com/Boiga%20k … pelini.htm
Not a snake. It’s a hammerhead worm (Bipalium), a kind of flatworm.
Jesus80, that looks a lot like a Taiwan habu, which can be quite skinny when they’re younger.
we’re quite familiar with them in Okinawa, whwere they have been introduced, partly because they are commonly bred to include in bottles of habu sake (local version of sake called awamori with a pickled snake inside).
traditionally an Okinawa habu, Trimereserus, but they use taiwan habu in smaller bottles.
[quote=“Chris”]
Not a snake. It’s a hammerhead worm (Bipalium), a kind of flatworm.[/quote]
Yup, I knew it was a worm, but until today I didn’t know the name (I found it today doing some googling). Thanks anyway
It looks like from another world.