>>Has anyone here going herping in Thailand or Southeast Asia? Can anyone recommend good books, websites, or share their own experiences?
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>>This December I will be in Thailand for about 12 days. About half of the time I will be scuba diving in the Andaman sea looking for sharks, manta rays, and sea snakes, but I'd like to spend a couple days hiking and looking for herps to photograph as well. I will be based out of Khao Lak in the Phang-Nga province on the Andaman coast near Phuket. Supposedly in the area where I will be, there is a coastal national park with 125 sq. miles of land, much of it mangrove habitat. I would love to find one of those black and yellow mangrove snakes or some water monitors! Or maybe a reticulated python!

Get someone to drive you around the mangroves in a small boat, day or night.

Dog-faced water snakes (Cerberus) certainly do come out at night on mud flats and can be very common. You MIGHT see mangrove snakes, mangrove pitvipers (Trimeresurus purpuremaculatus) and monitors.


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>>Naturally I want to learn all the dangerous species in my area so I know which snakes to steer clear of. I will be travelling solo so I can't afford a cobra bite. I already know there are king cobras in the mountains (although I seriously doubt I will run across one of these bad boys), and a variety of other vipers and cobras live in the country. Russell's vipers? Common cobras?

Naja kaouthia (monocled cobra) is still common in parts of southern Thailand. Russell's viper is not found that far south, but you get Calloselasma rhodostoma, several green pitvipers as well as possibly Wagler's and mangrove pitvipers, and kraits. Regarding banded krait mimics, if the snake is small, it may be a mimic, if it is large (3 ft or more), then it is almost certainly a krait. Red-headed kraits and the similarly patterned long-glanded coral snakes are also found there. As Chris H said, buy the book.

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>>The other thing I am thinking about is the season. In southern Thailand, it is pretty much warm year round, but I will be visiting in the dry season. When I studied tropical ecology in northeastern Australia, I quickly learned that the herping is not nearly as good in the cooler (but still warm) dry season as it is during the steaming hot wet season. So I'm wondering how much success I might have in Thailand during December and how I should focus my efforts.

Mangroves should be a good bet irrespective of season. Otherwise, the dry season is tough. Night driving through back roads can be productive if you can find some reasonably intact habitats. Padi fields are only good if they have not been hunted out - in many parts of Thailand, they have been, and since there are only limited places of shelter in them, the snake catchers can clean them out with remarkable efficiency.

Good luck!

Cheers,

WW

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>>Thanks,
>>Andy Gottscho
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