From the Central Highlands of Vietnam, specifically the outskirts of Gia Nghia in what was formerly Dak Nong Province (now Lam Dong).
Backstory: This is a screenshot from my MIL's Facebook video. The snake was flicking its tail rapidly. She thought it was cute and funny and dancing to the music she had playing - obviously not the case so what are we actually dealing with here?
Kukri Snake Oligodon sp., !harmless but they do have very sharp teeth
More specifically I think this one belongs to the O. cyclurus species group, but I don't have much experience with the genus.
Should be O. cinereus 👍
I was finding some pictures of O. ocellatus that looked very similar, so I wasn't sure.
For sure! A lot of kukri snakes can have a similar pattern and/or rufous/red dorsal color, so it's tricky with low detail screenshots like these. I think that the most useful thing here is that this animal appears to lack dark markings on the head/face entirely. In other species these markings can fade a bit with age but we should still see some traces even at this quality.
Thank you!!!
Are their teeth sharper than most snakes? If so, how? Like are they bladed rather than just pointed? I don’t remember any of the snakes that bit me as a kid in the U.S. having difficulty breaking the skin.
They have a pair of enlarged hind teeth that they use for slicing open eggs, which make up a large part of many species diet. Some also excrete an anticoagulant which causes further bleeding.
It gets it's name from the kukri knife, which has a curved blade. Their teeth aren't exactly knife shaped, but they're long and incredibly sharp.
Like many other animals with mouths and teeth, many non-venomous snakes bite in self defense. These animals are referred to as 'not medically significant' or traditionally, 'harmless'. Bites from these snakes benefit from being washed and kept clean like any other skin damage, but aren't often cause for anything other than basic first aid treatment. Here's where it get slightly complicated - some snakes use venom from front or rear fangs as part of prey capture and defense. This venom is not always produced or administered by the snake in ways dangerous to human health, so many species are venomous in that they produce and use venom, but considered harmless to humans in most cases because the venom is of low potency, and/or otherwise administered through grooved rear teeth or simply oozed from ducts at the rear of the mouth. Species like Ringneck Snakes Diadophis are a good example of mildly venomous rear fanged dipsadine snakes that are traditionally considered harmless or not medically significant. Many rear-fanged snake species are harmless as long as they do not have a chance to secrete a medically significant amount of venom into a bite; severe envenomation can occur if some species are allowed to chew on a human for as little as 30-60 seconds. It is best not to fear snakes, but use common sense and do not let any animals chew on exposed parts of your body. Similarly, but without specialized rear fangs, gartersnakes Thamnophis ooze low pressure venom from the rear of their mouth that helps in prey handling, and are also considered harmless. Check out this book on the subject. Even large species like Reticulated Pythons Malayopython reticulatus rarely obtain a size large enough to endanger humans so are usually categorized as harmless.
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