What WAS That!?!?!

The Scene of the Crime

 
Coming to Phuket, we knew would be different than being back in BC on many different levels. From the food to the language and customs, there is also the wildlife. My biggest concern would be to see a snake. But in the area of Canada where we lived, the most dangerous would be the typical garter snake. It's biggest threat was a heart attack from jumping out when you least expected it. We had many many spiders, and I never paid them much attention, except to go through the house on a regular basis and raze their webs, only to run into a newly spun one the next morning, usually across the doorway as I was headed out to work.

Thailand has a large concentration of creepies and crawlies. Some of them just on sight alone are enough to cause you to steer a clear berth, others look so benign they almost invite close-up inspection. This is a habit that I am learning is probably not a good idea.
As a rule of thumb now I say the cuter they look, the more deadly they are. My mother-in-law was beside herself when she heard we were coming to Thailand. She commented about the snakes and how deadly they were, until we reminded her that Australia probably has as many, if not more, venomous snakes and spiders. And indeed the largest spider I have ever seen anywhere in my travels was in Australia. When bush walking I was always instructed to step well over logs and rock, because of the possibility of a dangerous snake bit. And of course you would be crazy to bush walk in flip-flops, a standard footwear in Thailand. I recalled a memorable visit to an emergency department on one warm Christmas eve in Melbourne, for an issue unrelated to snaked. The reality of snakes there was brought home and dumbstruck me when the emergency ward had a wall lined with small drawers. Hundreds and hundreds to my eye, although there may have only in reality been one hundred. The walls above these neat sterile drawers were photographs of snakes, lots and lots of snakes. Each had a alpha-numeric notations. So it appears that when you were bite, you pointed to model A6 and they went to drawer A6 and administered that anti-venom.

Until this past week, I had seen but one snake here. I was startled upon discovery, as it was up in a tree. Now I have seen my share of movies and am not so dumb to not know that snakes, especially pythons, will climb a tree, in order to take you by surprise. Prior to arriving we saw the Phuket gazette had an article about a snake in the play-yard at the childrens hospital. Smart snake I thought, fresh, soft and young. But the first snake I saw was not a python, it was instead a nice green banded snake, that camouflaged so well it simply looked like another branch on the tree. It was only when it moved that i figured out that it was indeed a snake. I managed to get a partial photo and confidently posted it to Facebook complete with an identification. It was only a month later when Clive told me that what I had identified was not the actual snake. I digress to say that with each discovery, and they are almost daily, for the bugs and insects and butterflies, I check the web to try and identify them. A very frustrating experience unless you have a degree in the study of insects and reptiles and know the Latin named sub species of the group. So I have been fortunate to have a sister-in-law and a cousin who seem to be able to identify these things for me. A few months ago, my mom gave Clive a book on the snakes and bugs of Thailand and that has been more helpful, but it is certainly not all inclusive, as I would discover this past week.

We had discovered a nice walking area for the dogs. It appears to be an abandoned coconut grove, with spectacular views over the Andaman Sea from the pier at Rawai to the beach at Laem Ka. The remains of what was once an asphalt roadway ambles along the beach cliffs' and you are surrounded by hundreds of towering heavily laden coconut tree's. A work crew seems to go through and weed whacks about 30 meters to either side of the roadway. An old abandoned house sits in a small grove of tamarind trees. It is idyllic and so serene. The views, the breezes from the beaches and no-one except for us and the dogs, who are happy to run and jump and frolic in the fresh cut grasses. Makes you daily run the song "Another day In Paradise" through your mind. We like the walk so much, as it gets us to Laem Ka beach, where the dogs all go for a cool off in the water and chase the crabs to their hearts delight. Then we walk back and as they run through the dew covered grasses, the sand and dirt gets washed away. They get exercises and exhausted and they are clean by the time we get back to Thunderbird 3, and dried off from the wind as we zip along the roadways back to the Basset Prison (in their minds anyway it is prison). One of our biggest fears has been the possibility of then getting a snake bite, possibly lethal. We were told recently of a family with some doberman pups who had one bit by a cobra and death was almost instantaneous. We also have 4 of the biggest sucky dogs in the world, and when they have come across the dead snakes we sometimes find on the roadways, they literally jump back and make a wide berth. In my stupidity, I thought, maybe there is a natural impulse and they can smell them and have a healthy fear. So it should be no problem.

I released the hounds from the confines of Thunderbird 3 and as they busily ran around sniffing out pee-mail and making their own contributions, I began the walk into the coconut grove. As I crossed board that straddled a ditch, suddenly a copper coloured snake went jetting by my flip-flopped feet. My confidence of carrying my bamboo walking stick to thwart snakes suddenly seemed ridiculous. They could obviously move faster that I could, I am sure, reflexively try to push them away. The snake had quickly scooted away to safer ground, and I non nonchalantly called to Clive to watch the dogs as a snake had just crossed my path. I do not know what it was, but it seemed more afraid of me, so I di dnot think too much of it. And a week later I have yet to positively identify it, even with the text book and internet. Along came the hounds. They tend to run, jump and bay so loudly that I am also convinced that anything with a heartbeat within 100 meters would run for shelter. Again my knowledge of wildlife would be put to the test and I would again fail.

We ambled along about 1/2 kilometer and the pups were still frolicking, when suddenly Grace, the most passive and full figured girl, broke into a full on gallop baying and barking her brains out. She was headed for what looked like would be a successful mid-point interception of the largest snake I have ever seen in my life. Even in cool reflection, I would put it at between 1.2-2 meters long, slithering at breakneck speed for the cover of the brush that edges the cliffs to the ocean. As I called her in probably not the manliest voice on the planet at the top of my lungs, to the point of loosing my voice, she continued on her course. Suddenly from the corner of my eye, I saw Clive in his flip-flops running at full speed and calling her as well. I must say that I do not understand why we spend the money we do on his footwear to run his marathons, as he is sure very fleet of foot in flip-flops.

If you know a Basset, they are a hunting breed. When they are onto anything, be it a nap, eating or in high speed pursuit, their ears shut off all extraneous noise, including your voice and commands, except for the words treat, or dinner. The other three hounds had been oblivious to the action at this point, as Grace has a tendency to walk to her own drum beat and it is about 1/3 of the way behind the others. So they had moved well ahead on the roadway, before they realized that Grace was frantically calling for back-up and it looked like Clive was playing a game of chase-me, chase-me with her.

My previous training in crisis management took over as a second instinct. By now my voice is back and I am calling Clive and Grace. Both are on a mission and my pitch seems to not be right. I am trying to assess the priority of my evacuation and triage assessment. Do I take Grace to the vet first or Clive to the hospital?  You may wonder why I am even thinking in those terms, but if you know Clive, he would probably insist we go to the vet first. Then again he may slip into survival mode on me.  Do I call an ambulance and leave him for them, and take Grace to the vets?

By now I have also deduced this is probably not a cobra, as it has not stopped to stand it's ground. I am also making a mental note of what it looks like exactly, so that hopefully the vet and the hospital have those cute little drawers and photos so I can point out what bit them. I am now also aware that Graces call to action, is being received loud and clear and there are now three bassets headed into the scene from the roadway, by now I am sure the security guards 1/2 kilometer away are probably wondering what the hell is going on, or more properly, thinking " gee those guys are noisy today". Grace has now reached impact point mid-body of the snake, and three more bassets are closing in from the south. Clive manages to distract Grace for the second or two it took for the snake to reach the safety of the brush and I have managed to head off the reinforcements, running through the grass in my industrial flip-flops, hoping that the snake was traveling solo today. Hospital and Vet visits averted. Grace is thoroughly not impressed with the intervention and slowly skulks back to the roadway. The reinforcements have decided that this must have been a false alarm and Grace has cried wolf one too many times and off they head on their adventure. Clive has rejoined me on the roadway and we are both a bit rattled. Trying to figure out what the snake was, and after having seen no snakes to seeing two in one walk, is this as nice a walk as we have to this point figured it was.

We continued our walk to Laem Ka beach and decided to return to Thunderbird 3 by way of the regular roadway and not through the coconut grove. While we will eventually return, the dogs have had to settle for crab chasing at Palai beach, where the worst so far are the occasional dead sea snakes and massive jelly fish that wash up.

We have also since found the telephone number to call if you happen across a snake in your home. They will dispatch a crew and remove it. The number is easy to find on the fridge door now.

While it never came up in conversation, why he choose to run to intercept the snake and Grace was a mystery until he revealed a few days later that he thought a human had a better survival chance than a dog, so in essence he was self sacrificing. My research so far has revealed that the big snake could have been a reticulated Python, but the jury is still out on a definitive answer to "what was that?"