| 1 | Striped kukri snake |
One of the most common of the large kukri snake family. Striped kukri snakes (Oligodon taeniatus) are abundant in Thailand and Vietnam, and as Cambodia is sandwiched inbetween, they’re common there too.
Striped kukri snakes prefer lowland forests, but are also comfortable in areas controlled by humans, such as parks and gardens. They can be found in agricultural land such as guava, coconut, banana or rhambutan plantations. One hotspot within Cambodia is Krong Siem Riep, the popular resort town.
A bright vertebral stripe, bordered by a darker stripe on each side, is a classic sign of this species. Striped kukri snakes average at 45cm, and have specially modified teeth for slicing open reptile eggs, a large part of their diet. This makes them surprisingly dangerous, inflicting bloody, slicing bites to fingertips.
Oligodon taeniatus is a strongly nocturnal species. You can find them during the day, but only lurking under stones, leaves and wood. When threatened, they raise and curl their tails to show off a red underside, which is probably far more intimidating to predatory reptiles than it is to humans.
| 2 | Yellow spotted keelback |
This is one of those species that is very common, yet has surprisingly little research conducted. The yellow spotted keelback (Fowlea flavipunctatus) is a semi-aquatic snake which hangs out in shallow swamps, streams and marshes. This species moves by day, and encounters with people are quite common.
Yellow spotted keelbacks can turn vicious if you get in their way, rearing up and not hesitating to bite painfully. Its teeth are sharp enough to draw blood, but fortunately, they’re not capable of killing. Because they seasonally flood, rice paddies are a top place to encounter this 1 metre, moderately thick species. They even appear in drainage ditches in towns.
Yellow-spotted keelbacks are found throughout Cambodia, including the cities of Krong Battambang and Krong Siem Riep. It’s closely related to the checkered keelback (Fowlea piscivator) of India, which is heavily-fish eating, so it’s assumed that this species also relies on fish. Yellow spotted keelbacks are clearly separate from their cousin, with vividly defined black markings on their face, contrasting against the yellow below. These travel diagonally from the mouth and eye.
| 3 | Asian vine snake |
This snake is called a vine and looks like a vine. The Asian vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina) measures 1-1.5 metres and lives in trees, acquiring prey by pretending to be a swinging piece of vegetation and grabbing them as they walk past. Asian vine snakes are slightly venomous but rarely attack human beings. Phnom Kulen and Bokor National Parks are two places where they’re common, and they have a heavy presence in the Cardamom mountains. In fact, Asian vine snakes are found all over Cambodia in varying amounts.
This snake preys on reptiles such as Indian garden lizards (Calotes versicolor). Asian vine snakes are most famous for their bizarre horizontal pupils. However, their eyes have superior function too, with grooves in their snout that allow their vision fields to cross over and create binocular vision.
Asian vine snakes are most common in wet lowland forests, but have been spotted at 2100 metes in altitude. They stay still for much of the day, yet can vanish in a flash when pressured. This species is the cousin of the Indochinese long-nosed whip snake, found in Thailand.
| 4 | Cox’s mud snake |
This water-loving species occupies eastern Thailand and a large swathe of Cambodia. Cox’s watersnake (Homalopsis mereljcoxi) is found in drainage ditches, small reservoirs and shallow wetlands. It sometimes ventures to land, but becomes very immobile when it does. They’re spotted resting peacefully on the banks of lakes and rivers, minding their own business. Cox’s mud snake dislike overly deep water. In shallow rivers they swim around effortlessly, but when they were dumped into a river with steep banks, they immediately sought refuge on the shore.
Cox’s watersnake varies in appearance, with some being a pure slimy black. The rest have slashing patterns similar in style to a tiger, but white or beige overlaid on black instead.
Cox’s watersnakes like lie to flat on the water surface, waiting in ambush, and this makes them vulnerable to collectors. They’re often scooped up in fishers’ gill nets, and are heavily traded for their skins at Tonle Sap in Cambodia. Cox’s watersnake only became an official species in 2012, but was previously part of Homalopsis buccata, and therefore had plenty of knowledge and research already. The latter lives further south, in southern Thailand and Malaysia, and differs by its black and white bands, which are less vividly contrasting.
| 5 | Cambodian pitviper |
This is the venomous terror of the Cardamom mountains of Cambodia’s southwest. This snake lives in wilderness areas away from cities, probably intimidating a few lone villagers. The Cambodian pitviper (Trimeresurus cardamomensis) was discovered in 2011, and so far, all have been found within 10 metres of water and 1-2 metres above ground. They love especially moist forests, including evergreen forests and mangrove/melaleuca swamp forest.
This is part of a subgroup within the large Trimeresurus green pitviper family (which has 44 members). This mini clade also contains the large-eyed pitviper, Trimersurus macrops, and the ruby-eyed pitviper of Vietnam, which does indeed have ruby red eyes. The Cambodian pitviper merely has yellow eyes, and is instead recognisable via a more keeled (sharp) body at the mid-section. They also have a particularly prominent white stripe behind the eye in males, but not in females.
All three species are found in Cambodia, but are separated. The Cambodian pitviper sticks to highlands of the southwest, and can be found in Botum Sakor National Park, which is Cambodia’s largest. The large-eyed pitviper sticks to the northwest, joining its main range in Thailand. The ruby-eyed pitviper is found in eastern Cambodia, spilling in from its main range in Vietnam.
| 6 | Rice paddy snake |
The rice paddy snake, AKA Hypsiscopus plumbea, has a large territory which Cambodia lies at the northern extent of. They also appear in Thailand and Malaysia and are another resident of shallow water bodies like swamps. Rice paddy snakes are mildly venomous, but non-aggressive in temperament. They wallow in shallow water and smartly allow fish to come to them, burying themselves in mud to create a supreme disguise. When flustered, rice paddy snakes flee with a weird rhythm; they almost hop across the shallow mud surface.
This is a shiny, reflective snake, with eyes that are simultaneously small and bulging. Rice paddy snakes are olive to brown, with a yellow belly that spreads to the cracks between their scales.
Hypsiscopus plumbea sometimes falls victim to fellow snakes, including sunbeam snakes and Indochinese spitting cobras. Though they do like rice paddies, Hypsiscopus plumbea also venture to human habitation, crossing roads or even entering university dormitories. Rice paddy snakes become more adventurous on land after heavy rains, when the moistness allows a comfortable corridor for them. Unlike the yellow spotted keelback, this watery snake is nocturnal.
| 7 | Mountain bronzeback |
A tree-dwelling species of Cambodia, Vietnam and central Thailand. The mountain bronzeback (Dendrelaphis subocularis) doesn’t necessarily inhabit mountains but prefers hilly forests, where it enjoys a diet of lizards and frogs. This species moves quickly, and averages at 63-88cm long. Mountain bronzebacks are non-venomous, and pose no threat to humans whatsoever.
Dendrelaphis subocularis looks fairly similar to the painted bronzeback, yet the latter has a red tongue, while the Burmese bronzeback’s is oily black. Both have a creamy belly and a brown back, but the Burmese bronzeback has a thin black border on each individual scale. This gives it a messier look overall.
This is one of the strangest snakes geographically. It doesn’t extend southwards beyond central southern Thailand, and is missing from peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra. Yet in 2010, an isolated population was discovered on the Indonesian island of Java, on the outskirts of Jakarta, over 1000 miles away. It’s theorised that Burmese bronzebacks must have migrated southwards during an ice age tens of thousands of years ago. Somehow, the pocket on Java stayed alive, while those inbetween died out.
| 8 | Monocled cobra |
This killer snake occupies the entirety of Cambodia, except maybe the extreme north. This is a black and white snake, measuring 1-2 metres, which is named for the single circular marking on the back of its head (which is two circles in the Indian “spectacled” cobra).
Like all cobras, monocled cobras are flexible eaters, but 75.8% of their prey is rodents, according to a Thai study. They also eat fellow snakes, including sunbeam snakes and red-tailed pipe snakes (Cylindrophis rufus).
Cambodia also hosts the Indochinese spitting cobra, which likes drier locations. Monocled cobras prefer watery areas which are prone to flooding, particularly rice paddy fields. Monocled cobras are thankfully unable to spit venom in people’s eyes, but a bite causes superficial skin destruction and necrosis (rarely affecting deeper muscles), and mild neurotoxicity. Monocled cobras inhabit woods but rarely deeper forests. They’re much more common in open habitats, including in human settlements.
In a study from Thailand, 50% of monocled cobra bite victims had only local symptoms, while 8% had no symptoms. 12.5% of victims died, so though there’s a chance of getting lucky, this cobra is no less deadly than its cousins. Cambodia has a particular lack of snakebite statistics (unlike India), but it’s estimated that the monocled cobra causes the highest number of fatalities annually.
| 9 | Argyrophis muelleri |
An extremely shy snake which spends the vast majority of its time underground. Mueller’s blind snakes are hardly ever seen, and are theorised to eat small earthworms and soft-bodied insect larvae. They reach 48cm and have very minimally developed eyes. Mueller’s blind snakes are shiny and black, contrasting against a snowy white belly. Though humble and shy, they’re surprisingly fast moving when pushed, speeding forward with determination, as the video above shows.
This is a burrowing snake with a fairly thick body, which also lives in Burma and Thailand. Müller’s blind snakes are particularly abundant in the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia. The mountains just cross into eastern Thailand, and the highest peak is Phnom Aura at 1813 metres. On the western side, the Cardamom mountains are extremely wet, with 5000mm of rainfall annually, while the eastern areas in Cambodia are drier and more wooded.
These mountains are mostly barely inhabited wilderness, and home to endless snake species, with Mueller’s ground snake, Asian vine snakes, Cardamom pitvipers, rice paddy snakes, and keeled slug snakes, all living in perfect harmony (to some extent anyway). Because of their rareness, there no are images to display, so see this video for footage of a surprisingly fast Mueller’s blind snake.
| 10 | Keeled slug snake |
The most successful and powerful of the Pareas slug-eating family. The keeled slug snake (Pareas carinatus) measures 50-60cm, and ranges from Java in the south, northwards to Cambodia and Vietnam.
The name is false, as it was discovered that in captivity, this species hardly ever goes for slugs, even though this would be far simpler. Pareas carinatus prefers snails, sneaking up on them from behind. Keeled slug snakes have a deliberately imbalanced jaw; their teeth are longer on their left side, in order to grip a snail shell, while simultaneously shifting their jaws to extract the juicy snail inside.
Pareas carinatus is mostly arboreal, sticking to tree branches. This makes sense as it’s far easier to see snails moving along thin branches, compared to the forest floor where they would blend in. Another snail-eating family is the Dipsas genus of South America, which includes the neotropical snail-eater. According to a 2002 study, the keeled slug snake differs to these in that it rarely follows a mucus trail, and never coils around the shell. This might make them a less advanced snail hunter.