Formosahut forum - The snakes are out

The snakes are out (reply)

dulan drift — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:27:16 +0000

i wondered about an earthquake as well! If you look at the earthquake epicentres in Taidong, they commonly seem to be right here. Genrally pretty small, but literally right underneath us.
Though the break in the rain is also another good explanation for the snake activity - and also being outside to actually see it.

The snakes are out (reply)

dan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:36:07 +0000

I've found that at night I really must have a flashlight trained right on a snake to definitively identify it. The Habu and Hundred Pacer both blended in very well with the tone of our cement driveway at night, so I've started carrying a flashlight when I venture out.

I actually thought the (what I think was a) Habu looked more like a Mountain Viper, according to the pics on that site, and perhaps it was. After all, if the weather is acting so funny, maybe the snakes are too. Or maybe there's a big quake coming?

The snakes are out (reply)

dulan drift — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:35:23 +0000

Went out last night to check the water with my dying torch and saw a dangerous looking snake slithering up my drive. You mentioned something about them getting active when there's a break from a few days rain - it was just like that. Hard to say what it was - can't readily identify it from the Snakes of Taiwan website - actually looked a bit like the Chinese Mountain snake that you mentioned but it says they only grow to 40cm and i think it was about 70 cm. Possibly a habu but the head seemed a bit smaller. Tried to take a pic but my camera was acting up. Will check my camera later to see if anything came out.

The snakes are out (reply)

dan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:55:12 +0000

I just saw what I assumed was a Habu, but it actually looked more like a Mountain Viper, although those are supposed to inhabit regions above 2,000M.

Must have been a Habu. I guess I need to improve my snake identification skills.

The snakes are out (reply)

dan — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:27:41 +0000

I was sitting in my lawn chair in the driveway tonight, looking at the stars, when the dogs acted funny. Their was a hundred pacer about two feet away from me. After gingerly making my way around it to where I could turn on the outside light, I made out the distinctive triangular pattern and rectangular head, although I didn't note the upturned nose as I was looking more for the skin pattern.

The snakes are out (reply)

dan — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:58:51 +0000

I'm surprised the picture came out as well as it did. You can easily tell it's a 100 pacer.

Does it eat hornets? It might be interesting to toss that 100 pacer into your hornets nest. Very politically incorrect, and I bet the hornets would win quite quickly.

The snakes are out (reply)

dulan drift — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:30:29 +0000

sorry for the crappy photo - cellphone at night - but here's a 100 pacer i saw just near my place - it was sitting on the road eating a frog. Quite an impressive, imperious kind of creature with this very distinctive pattern and upturned nose.

The snakes are out

dan — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 03:59:17 +0000

I posted a UDN.com story on the blog about an increase in snake sightings and captures. The story specifies Zhiben, but I'm sure it's the same most everywhere in the area. I'm pretty sure we had one on the porch last night, at least that's what I think caused one of the dogs to yelp in pain at 2am. When I went down to check things out, they were all looking under the washing machine. I doubt it was a gecko.