Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In March I travel probably to Malaysia for explore reptiles. Of course I would like to look boigas which habit in that region.
Im interested to visit Cameron Highland too. Are here anyone who has been in Cameron Highland and may write, are any boigas in that range?

I know only in Malaysia live 8 species boigas, but are them in Cameron Highland? I dont know.

Malaysian boigas:
1.Boiga cyanea DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854
2.Boiga cynodon BOIE 1827
3.Boiga dendrophila annectens (BOULENGER, 1896)
Boiga dendrophila melanota (BOULENGER 1896)
4.Boiga drapiezii H. BOIE in F. BOIE 1827
5.Boiga jaspidea DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854
6.Boiga multomaculata BOIE 1827
7.Boiga nigriceps GÜNTHER 1863
8.Boiga ocellata KROON 1973

PS! Of course in Malaysia are quite many arboreal pitvipers:
1.Trimesurus albolabris GRAY 1842
2.Trimeresurus borneensis PETERS 1872
3.Trimeresurus hageni LIDTH DE JEUDE 1886
4.Trimeresurus popeiorum BOULENGER 1912
5.Trimeresurus puniceus BOIE 1827
6.Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus GRAY in GRAY & HARDWICKE 1832
7.Trimeresurus sumatranus RAFFLES 1822
8.Tropidolaemus wagleri BOIE 1826

Cheers
Toomas

Helo Toomas!
I'm from malaysia....yes it is indeed true there are many boiga's here..however the common one's are only boiga dendrophila melonata...however..their habitat is mainly by the water ie mostly rivers...so i doubt u'll find any in cameron highlands..the temperature is too cold there too.
your best luck at encountering other boiga species would be perhaps b.nigriceps and b.cynodon...these however are also very hard to encounter in the wild...u'd have to be extremely lucky...as for b.cyanea..they are quite rare in malaysia and your best chance in seeing them would be further up north..nearer to thailand. boiga drapiezii can be quite common. as for other species like b.jaspidea...hehe..i've been waiting a few years to get hold of a specimen...quite rare..
if u're going to cameron highlands u'll probably encouter lots of vipers...most probably p.popeiorum.
best of luck to you mate~
can contact me if u need any help in malaysia. might even join u for herping if i'm free

cheers,
Chan

Many thanks for information!

Cheers
Toomas

I was in Borneo Malaysia last winter, although I didn't encounter any while I was there, a local ophidiophile told me that b. dendrophilia were incredibly common.

Also a local snake field guide I picked up while there showed the b. dendrophilia as the most common boigas in the region.

However, it might just be that as these are so brightly colored that they only seem to be the most common. Or that this is only the case in Borneo.

I did a lot of traveling in the area that winter, and eventually I wound up just giving up on remembering the regional names of the places I visited, so I can't help you there.

The most exciting snake encounter I had was a chance to visit 'snake island' and hold a banded sea-crait.... fun =)

The boiga dendrophila is as common in the peninsular as it is in borneo...however the harvesting of its species is much higher in the peninsular(due to the pet trade)....so at the current time u might even find difficulty in seeing a dendrophila in the wild here.
I also had the chance to do some herping in borneo, sabah...it was awesome..the wildlife there is amazing..i spent 10 days in the jungle in the Sukau forest reserve last year..however during that time i only caught a 8 foot retic and one dendrophila...an unidentified rat snake managed to escape my grasp This shows how hard it is to encounter a snake in the wild...regardless of rumours on how abundant snakes are in the area...a lot of it depends on luck...and also a good torch ..and some good eyes ...local guides are very handy to have on such trips as they have very sharp eyes and are used to spotting animals.
So..all the best on your herping expedition to malaysia! (if u're going to borneo..don't miss out on the proboscis monkeys..they're amazing creatures!)

As I understand, Malaysia is not the best range for exploring snakes as Boigas and also Trimeresurus. As encount any other snakes. Only big snakes can find better.

But are in Borneo better? Probably that encounting problems are everywhere in Southeast Asian countries. They are too much planted.

mainland malaysia is not the best place yes...but a big part of borneo is also part of malaysia (sabah and sarawak) they have more uninterupted jungle there...

One of the places I visited in Borneo was untouched wilderness tucked in the eastside of Malaysia-Borneo... about as far south as you can go without hitting Indonesia.

Where I was at, logging had never taken place and the ubiquitous date palms had never been planted.

I was told snakes were abundnt there. Retic pythons and Boigas. During the night, the bright refleections of Saimesae crocadiles could be seen with a flashlight all about the river. Also present were proboscus monkeys (one of the few spots on the plant where they still thrives), orangatang, and a few herds (numbering between fifty and a hundred individuals each) of pygmy borneo elephants.

This spot, as well as a few others -I'm sure, is without question, a need-to place to go to see wildlife.

I stayed it what they called a rain-forest-hotel. Basicly a bunch of cabins on stilts in the rain forest near the river. It was a two hour boatride from the nearest village (which was devoid of telephones or powerlines) and the village was a four hour drive to the nearest paved road.

The people who worked at the 'hotel' were expert local tracker-type people, they could find anything you're looking for, and they were wonderfully friends, and also animal-lovers... unfortuanatly, I was only able to stoy for one night in this location.

I'm sure you could find the place I'm talking about with a little investigation. The area is a wildlife perserve, as I said on the east sife of borneo, not too far from the ocean.

Good luck, and enjoy your travels...