#bungarus multicinctus

(Bungarus multicinctus) many-banded krait

Habitat: Most commonly found in open woodland, grassy fields, & bamboo groves adjacent to water, such as ditches, rice paddies & streams. May be found in villages & suburban areas. Fairly geographically wide spread. Found up to 1,300 m elevation, in southern China, Burma, Indonesia, & most of Southeast Asia. Activity and

Behavior: Not well known. Terrestrial, strongly nocturnal, sluggish by day, more active at night. Eats mainly other snakes, but also available lizards or amphibians

(Bungarus multicinctus) Many-banded krait

Most commonly found in open woodland, grassy fields, & bamboo groves adjacent to water, such as ditches, rice paddies & streams. May be found in villages & suburban areas. Fairly geographically wide spread. Found up to 1,300 m elevation, in southern China, Burma, Indonesia, & most of Southeast Asia.

Habits not well known. Terrestrial, strongly nocturnal, sluggish by day, more active at night. Eats mainly other snakes, but also available lizards or amphibians.

I’d been thinking about the new spot everyday waiting for some time and the conditions to be right to go and explore it one night. At last we had some free time, it was humid, hot, there wasn’t to much wind so I put my boots, snake hook and tongs in the car, grabbed the torches, headlamps, camera etc and set out with Carly to see what we could find.

We pulled up to the small carpark at the base of the forest covered hill and were  pleasantly suprised to see the area was alive with frogs, geckos and insects, and, we hoped, snakes too.

We set off into the forest and after no more than five or ten minutes Carly had already spotted the first snake, a beautiful young Red-necked Keelback (Rhabdophis subminiatus). Although she won’t admit it, she has become quite adept at wildlife spotting and this first snake was a great start to the night.

As the walk continued we saw two more Keelbacks asleep in bushes on the side of the path. There colors weren’t as vibrant as the first but nevertheless it’s always cool to see snakes, especially three in one night and we kept our fingers crossed to see more.

We hadn’t seen anymore snakes and after traipsing around the hot and humid forest for a couple of hours we were beginning to tire and run out of sweat so we decided to call it a night and head home. It was amazing to see three snakes in a night, and I know we should’ve considered ourselves lucky but inside we were a little dissapointed that they were all the same species, and whats more one that we see quite often. Oh well maybe next time we might see a new species.

The path through the forest is comprised mostly of loose rocks and so our attention for most of the downhill return trip was focused at our feet trying not to trip. I hadn’t given up yet and secretly hoped we’d still see more snakes on the way back and stopped occasionaly to scan the forest floor and bushes either side of the path as we walked.

Suddenly I spotted something, it was a snake, there was no mistaking it and …………. it was covered in black and white bands.

What’s so special about a snake with black and white bands you might ask, well here’s the scary facts. Snakes with black and white bands in Thailand could either be a lethaly venomous Krait or a harmless Wolf Snake.

You see kraits have extremely potent neurotoxic venom and their black and white bands serve as a highly visible warning to would be predators. Wolf snakes on the other hand are nonvenomous and so in order to gain some free protection they mimic the kraits black and white colouration in the hopes that they will be left alone.

It would very easy to incorrectly identify a harmless wolf snake as a lethal krait and vice versa, infact this is exactly the mistake that took the life of the famous American herpetologist Joe Slowinski during a field trip in Myanmar (formerly Burma).

Below are some examples of how alike the two types of snakes look.

Non Venomous Wolf Snakes (the mimics)

#gallery-0-7 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-7 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-7 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-7 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Snake-eating Wolf Snake (Lycodon Ophiphagus)

White-banded Wolf Snake(Lycodon subcinctus)

Laotian wolf snake (Lycodon laoensis)

Highly Venomous Kraits

#gallery-0-8 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-8 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-8 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-8 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Malayan Krait (Bungarus candidus)

Many Banded Krait (Bungarus multicinctus)

Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus)

So let’s talk about venom, when I say kraits have highly potent venom it is no exaggeration.  The many banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus) is ranked around third in the world amongst terrestrial snakes in terms of its venom potency (LD50). The Malayan Krait (Bungarus candidus) has a similarly potent venom which kills 50% of their human victims even when antivenin is administered.

Seeing this beautiful black and white snake making its way accross the forest floor filled me with a mixture of excitement, fear and respect. I turned to Carly and said something along the lines of ‘this is either one of the most venomous snakes in South-east Asia or its a completely harmless wolf snake, be really careful’.

Keeping our distance we watched the snake as it slithered effortlessly through the leaf litter and then up onto a rock right infront of us, what a poser.

As soon as I got home I grabbed my snake books and went about trying to ID the snake but I couldn’t come to a definite conclusion as to what it was. Had we seen a deadly krait or it’s harmless mimic.

Not sure of the ID  I decided to consult Vern Lovic fromThailandSnakes.com  whose vast knowledge of the snakes of Thailand and this species in particular, was quickly able to identify it as the Malayan Krait /Blue Krait (Bungarus candidus).

What an amazing end to the night and what a fantastic new species to add to my blog.

  Recently we haven’t had much time to go out and about exploring for wildlife and I was beginning to feel trapped and a little disheartened, this night walk reignited my sense of adventure and reminded me of why I relocated to Thailand. I’d like to say a special thanks to Carly who supports not only my love of wildlife but all other aspects of life. She accompanies me on long, hot humid jungle hikes, creepy night walks through forests and has endless patience for my constant need to stop and examine wildlife wherever we go. I couldn’t ask for a better companion and partener in life and without her a lot of the experiences on my blog may never have happened.

Thank you Carly for all you do and here’s to lots more adventures in the future xx

    Photo Credits:

Lycodon Ophiphagus Peter Engelen http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9870

Lycodon subcinctus: Peter Engelen http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9870

Lycodon laoensis: Mammuin                                                       http://picssr.com/photos/mamuin/page7?nsid=31394161@N03

Many Banded Krait: Briston                                                                            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-banded_krait

Banded Krait: W Wuster                        https://bangkokherps.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/banded-krait/

Many Banded Krait- Bungarus multicinctus

This beautiful snake is one the most venomous terrestrial species of snake in the world. 

However, the venom of this snake played a key role in pharmacology through the use of its venom to develop receptor-labelling techniques.