poison snake

surprize visitor - such a cute yellow necktie for a poisonous snake We have never seen anything like this one in the last 17 years here in the mountains.

comments from friends

It has strong poison, even stronger than Mamushi, they say; but it's very gentle and rarely bite a person.
When my son was 11 years old, he had a couple of them in our garden in Matsue as his pets. He liked to play with them in a stream near by. At that time we had not known they were poisonous. They were just so gentle.
Their yellow color was much thinner than yours.

. . . . .

In ancient Greece snakes were seen as having the power to cure and heal - drawn from the idea that an old, dull-looking snake would shed its skin and emerge looking bright and healthy. Asklepios was the great healer, son of a god and a mor
tal woman. His "familiar" was the serpent, which gave him the wisdom to heal people. But when he went too far and revived a dead person he was sacrificed and sent into the heavens. His daughters Salus and Hygieia took up where he left off and maintained temples dedicated to the snakes. The Aesculapean Staff, with its intertwined snakes, remains the symbol of the medical profession.

- Shared at Joys of Japan -



Japanese Serpents
. By David Bituin .


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Yamakagashi ヤマカガシ（山楝蛇、赤楝蛇)
Lives in the warmer parts of Japan.

関東地方の個体では斑紋がはっきりしているのに対し、
関西地方の個体ではややぼんやりとしており、
中国・四国地方の個体では濃紫色の個体が多い.

kagashi is an old Japanese word for SNAKE.
So this name says it is a "mountain snake", but in reality it is seldom found in high altitudes, but more near rivers and wetlands.

It feeds on frogs in the rice paddies. But with the recent decline of wet fields and frogs, this type of snake has also declined rapidly.
It is almost never seen in urban areas.
©　More in the Japanese WIKIPEDIA !



Rhabdophis tigrinus
is a venomous colubrid snake found in East and Southeast Asia. No subspecies are currently recognized.
The dorsal color pattern is olive-drab green with black and bright orange crossbars or spots from the neck down the first third of the body. The belly is whitish. The average length is usually 60-100 cm.

When these snakes are challenged at cooler temperatures they tend to demonstrate passive anti-predator responses such as flattening their neck and body and lying still while at higher temperatures they more frequently flee instead.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



RHABDOPHIS TIGRINUS FORMOSANUS
Asian Tiger Snake 台灣赤煉蛇

Small to medium-sized snake; total length up to 100 cm.

Look at some scary photos :
source : www.snakesoftaiwan.com


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. WKD : snake, serpent, hebi 蛇 .



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