Calling Mr Snake
Gottle a gear - Mon with captured Tokkae.
Phamon Samphanthamit – better known to his friends as Mon, is the guy you need to know when your spouse runs from the bathroom shrieking “Snake! Snake!” – a not uncommon occurrence; after all, paradise is well known for harbouring at least one snake…
Most of the snakes in Phuket are pretty harmless. The biggest, growing up to 10 metres in length, are the reticulated pythons. They’re not poisonous, but are quite capable of catching and swallowing your pet poodle.
Much more dangerous are the cobras, particularly the rather common monocellate cobra, which Thais call ngu hau. Get bitten by one of these and you need to get to hospital ASAP. Less common, but even more dangerous, is the king cobra (ngu jong ahng), which can reach almost 6 metres in length.
Apart from being life-threatening, the venom from both of these snakes destroys body tissue around the bite area, usually necessitating surgery. So it’s good to know someone who will come to your house and deal with snakes. You can call the local villagers who will be happy to beat the snake to death (and possibly beat your bathroom to death in the process) or you can call Mon.
Mon works for the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation (WAR), based in Bang Rong village on the northeast side of the island, and part of his job is catching snakes alive and releasing them in places far from human habitation.
“They are beautiful animals,” he says, “and I have never wanted to kill any of them.” In fact, he admits to a bit of an obsession with snakes, often capturing them so that he can add to his library of snake photos, then releasing them again.
Monocellate cobra, photographed by Mon. Quite common in Phuket, and definitely dangerous.
Mon recalls handling his first snake when he was six years old. He found out later that it was a potentially deadly banded krait, and he quickly learned to be careful to identify a snake before catching it. He’s been bitten three times, each time, happily, by non-venomous snakes.
His advice, if you find a snake in your home or garden:
- Leave it alone.
- Try to identify it, or at least make a note of its size, colours and head shape.
- Call Mon at +66 (0) 84702 3302 or +66 (0) 76 260 491.
- Keep an eye on the snake so that you’ll be able to show Mon where it is.
Mon will also come and cart away Tokkae lizards. Tokkae, at around 8 inches, are the T Rexes of the gecko world; they feed on all kinds of bugs and also like to snack on their smaller relatives, which is useful. The downside is that the males make an almighty racket at night – “tok-tok-tok-tok-TOKKAE!” – and they are not toilet-trained.
So wait till your tokkae has wiped out the local gecko population, or until you can no longer stand the noise, then call Mon.
Mon takes no payment for his services, but he will accept donations to WAR.
[...] twin (actually they were both evil) was caught by our local snake catcher, Mon (story about him here). But he couldn’t come to catch this latest intruder. Let’s call him [...]