There’s a snake in the house in Seminyak Bali

by Nick on May 10, 2006

by Nick | May 10th, 2006

Our porch backs directly onto the garden, which, minus the mosquitoes, is cool. This afternoon Ika came upstairs to tell me there was a snake in the garden. When I got down there it had disappeared, but she said it was wrapped around the papaya tree.

She said it was about the thickness of her thumb and a medium green color. In the garden I couldn’t see it, but Ika spotted it again. I caught a quick glimpse, its pretty small, about a meter long and a lovely shiny smooth body. The snake perfectly matches its environment, and if it didn’t move would be very hard to see.

We have a lot of frogs in our garden and the other night Ika said she heard ‘the sound the frog makes when he’s getting eaten by the snake’. I am not familiar with that sound, but I’m sure it represents pain. Ika said the green snake had a thin yellow stripe. Does anyone know if that’s dangerous?

{ 16 comments }

Chris May 10, 2006 at 2:20 pm
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You weren’t tempted to do your best Steve Irwin impression, ‘look at this little fella, isn’t he a beauty’, then.

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Mick Gordon May 10, 2006 at 2:39 pm
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In my paranoid experience I would imagine most tropical snakes are dangerous. I grew up in South Africa where we had to keep anti venom in the refridgerator. The green mamba was one of the little killers that slithered around in the grass. mick http://rockwatching.wordpress.com

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MarkE May 10, 2006 at 4:19 pm
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Nick, it sounds like a young Wagler pit viper, also called a blue temple viper. Quite poisonous indeed. You should probably have a snake hunter come to remove it. There is a photo and info at http://www.expat.or.id/medical/poisonoussnakes.html. Good luck man!

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mick May 10, 2006 at 5:40 pm
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Yes nick its very dangerous and aussie surfer died after being bitten by one in a garden at panorama cottages. There is no cure they have to cut of the limb bitten to stop the spread of venom.

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Barrie May 10, 2006 at 6:11 pm
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G’day Nick,

Seen a lot of these snakes in Java and they are on most of the islands. Sounds like Ika met a ‘two-step’. Nasty bite and maybe, just maybe could be fatal depending on your health. Like anywhere in the world, avoid the buggas!.

12 years ago at Candika’s house in Yogya, she came running in saying the same as Ika did. Trouble was it turned out to be a Cobra!. A quick throat slit with a machete by her brother and we had a good meal that night.

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bruce May 10, 2006 at 6:35 pm
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hi nick, most snakes are dangerous, however usually only on one end. hope this helps.

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alysia May 10, 2006 at 10:03 pm
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Hey Nick,

Most snakes that aren’t colored on the very bright side are usually safe to be around. Otherwise, the brighter the color, the greater the danger. So if that yellow stripe is an extremely bright yellow, I’d stay away. If it is just pale yellow, then most likely it is safe. Don’t try to catch it yourself unless you know how to hold a snake. G’luck!

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Allen O May 10, 2006 at 11:11 pm
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Nick:
I have friends in Amed that own’s a hotel there, they were telling me a story about a large green snake that when spoted the whole village went out and tracked the little devil down and killed it? I was staying at the Grand Balasani Suites just north of you last month, we were coming back to our hotel at night when I spotted a large brown snake in the lower lobby.The assistant manager rounded up a few of the boy’s got a pool net, and cornered a very angry snake looked like one of those little gifts from Austrila

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EdBob May 11, 2006 at 1:55 am
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I saw one in Ubud a couple of months ago and was following a local woman into the ricefields. We made a turn on the path an there was the green snake. I asked the woman if it was poisenous and she said no but she didn’t like them anyway.

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lingus May 11, 2006 at 10:53 am
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only if you swallow it !!

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Mick May 11, 2006 at 12:16 pm
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Hi NIck didin’t know if you got my first one or not. Those snakes are very dangerous, an aussie surfer died after being bitten by one at Panorama cottages in kuta. There is no anti venom they have to cut the limb off that is bitten to stop the venom spreading. Hope this helps

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Rob May 11, 2006 at 5:26 pm
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Only dangerous if they bite you.

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Jan May 13, 2006 at 4:43 am
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Don’t know anything about snakes, but had a look for green and yellow snakes in Indonesia. Found this link with some photos http://worldwidefauna.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=52_22&sort=1a&page=5 . Could it be the Green Tree Pit Viper (Trimeresurus Albolabris)? It’s poisonous, and eats frogs and small birds. Not realy dangerous, but better be carefull.

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J. Wong June 16, 2007 at 2:02 am
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This article describes several of the venomous snakes to be found on Bali. See if any match your description.

P.S., I was in Kuta walking on a path when I stepped over what appeared to be a large stick, tan in color, which moved off the path with a large crack sound as I stepped over it. Clearly a snake and it might have even been a King cobra judging from it’s size and color.

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J. Wong June 16, 2007 at 2:03 am
Erol Kurt September 15, 2007 at 5:00 am
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We have stayed at Sanur at a bunglowe. I had a green, thiny, 30-40cm. snake…when it become agresive I have seen it was a cobra with a red point at his neck. Garden boys caought it and told me it was a Cobra. I told them next time I want a bigger one…eatable. :) Joke beside, left of offerings are inviting them to come close to human. The point is,they kill in 5 minutes and if you TRY to go to hospital…minimum 20 minutes.

Anyway…Bali is nice.

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