| 1 | Striped kukri snake |
Maximum length: 44.7cm.
One of the most common members of the huge kukri snake genus (88 members). The striped kukri snake (Oligidon taeniatus) is abundant in Thailand and Vietnam, and seeing as Cambodia is sandwiched inbetween, it’s abundant there too. This is a completely non-venomous species which easily coexists with human beings.
Striped kukri snakes are most common in lowland forests, but are perfectly comfortable in human-controlled areas, such as parks and gardens. They’re often 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 have specially modified teeth for slicing open reptile eggs, which form a large part of their diet. This makes them surprisingly dangerous, inflicting bloody, slicing bites to human fingertips.
Striped kukri snakes are strongly nocturnal, spending their days 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 birds than it is to humans.
| 2 | Blanford’s bridal snake |
Maximum length: 92cm.
Part of the vast Lycodon wolf snake clan, but with a difference. While most wolf snakes eat a mixture of geckos and skinks, Blanford’s bridal snakes prey heavily on eggs. They eat bird eggs exclusively, such as those of the puff-throated bulbul and Abbott’s babbler.
Blanford’s bridal snakes (Lycodon davisonii) are non-venomous, and unlikely to attack humans. They’re found across virtually all of Cambodia, where they’re a symbol of fear for local birds. A study from a northeast Thailand biosphere reserve found that Blanford’s bridal snakes were the third most frequent nest raider of any species, not just among snakes, but all animals. There’s no reason to think they change their ways when the Cambodian border arrives.
Blanford’s bridal snakes are mainly nocturnal, and range from near sea level to 1000 metres. They mainly inhabit forests, where birds’ nests are plentiful. While their diet is unusual, they look fairly similar to other wolf snakes, with a black body and many white bands. One ID sign is their head, which features a narrow spear of black on the very top of their skull, bordered on either side by consistent snowy white, except for an extra black patch by each eye.
To the west, Blanford’s bridal snakes are found in all of Thailand except the far south. To the east, they’re found in the lower 50% of Vietnam, especially around the capital Ho Chi Minh City. Blanford’s bridal snakes aren’t found in Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia.
| 3 | Asian vine snake |
Maximum length: 197cm.
A snake which is called a vine, and most definitely looks like a vine. The Asian vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina) is a species of forests and woods, which appears all over Cambodia in varying amounts. This snake has a heavy presence in the Cardamom Mountains and is particularly common in Phnom Kulen and Bokor National Parks.
Asian vine snakes are slightly venomous, but rarely attack human beings. Small reptiles have more to fear, as this species is a cunning hunter, acquiring prey by pretending to be a swinging piece of vegetation and grabbing them as they wander below. One of their confirmed meals is the Indian garden lizard (Calotes versicolor).
Asian vine snakes are most famous for their bizarre horizontal pupils. However, their eyes have superior functioning too, with grooves in their snout which allow their vision fields to cross over and create binocular vision. This species is most common in wet lowland forests, but has been spotted at up to 2100 metres in altitude.
Asian vine snakes stay still for much of the day, yet can vanish in a flash when pressured. Despite being common, their green camouflage makes them difficult to spot. This species is the cousin of the Indochinese long-nosed whip snake (Ahaetulla nasuta) found in Thailand.
| 4 | Cox’s mud snake |
Maximum length: 137cm.
This water-loving species occupies eastern Thailand, and a large swathe of Cambodia. Cox’s watersnake (Homalopsis mereljcoxi) is a species of drainage ditches, small reservoirs and shallow wetlands. This semi-aqatic snake is usually spotted resting peacefully on the banks of lakes and rivers, minding its own business. It sometimes ventures to land, but becomes much more immobile when it does.
Cox’s watersnakes are thick-bodied and vary in appearance. Some are a pure slimy black, while others have slashing patterns similarly to a tiger, but with white or beige overlaid on dark brown instead. Cox’s watersnakes dislike overly deep water, sticking to shallow rivers, where they swim around effortlessly. When dumped into a river with steep banks, they immediately seek refuge on the shores.
Cox’s watersnakes like to lie flat on the water surface, waiting in ambush. This a great hunting strategy, but also 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 the puff-faced watersnake species (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 |
Maximum length: around 60cm (so far).
The venomous terror of the Cardamom Mountains, which straddle the southwestern border with Thailand. The Cambodian pitviper (Trimeresurus cardamomensis) lives only in wilderness areas well away from cities, intimidating a few remote villagers and farmers, lost scientists, and possibly hikers. This species was discovered only in 2011, and so far, all have been found within 10 metres of water, and 1-2 metres above ground on branches.
Cambodian pitvipers appear in moist forests, including evergreen forests and mangrove/melaleuca swamp forests. They have the usual green colours, but little is known about their precise venom composition. Most Trimeresurus pitvpipers have a cytotoxic venom which is capable of killing, but far less lethal than the average coral snake.
This species is part of a small subgroup within the Trimeresurus green pitviper genus (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 sharply keeled body at the mid-section. This species also has a particularly prominent white stripe behind the eye in males, but not in females.
All three species of this subgroup 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, meanwhile, is found only in eastern Cambodia, spilling in from its main range in Vietnam.
| 6 | Rice paddy snake |
Maximum length: around 70cm.
The rice paddy snake, AKA Hypsiscopus plumbea, has a large territory in southeast Asia, 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. The rice paddy snake is a mildly venomous species, but with a completely non-aggressive temperament. Their life strategy is to wallow in shallow water and smartly allow fish to come to them, burying themselves in mud, in order to create a supreme disguise.
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. When flustered, rice paddy snakes flee with a weird rhythm; they almost hop across the shallow mud surface.
Rice paddy snakes sometimes fall victim to neighbouring snakes, including sunbeam snakes and Indochinese spitting cobras. Though they do like rice paddies, this species also ventures 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. This watery snake is nocturnal, so keep an eye out from 18:00 to 22:00.
| 7 | Mountain bronzeback |
Maximum length: 88cm.
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 ranges from 63-88cm long.
Mountain bronzebacks are non-venomous, and pose no threat to humans whatsoever. This species looks fairly similar to the painted bronzeback (common in Cambodia), yet the latter has a red tongue, while the mountain bronzeback’s is an oily black. Both have a creamy belly and a brown back, but the mountain bronzeback has a thin black border on each individual scale, giving the species a messier look overall.
This is one of the strangest snakes geographically. On mainland Asia, the mountain bronzeback doesn’t extend southwards beyond central southern Thailand, and is completely 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 mountain 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 |
Maximum length: 240cm.
This killer snake occupies the entirety of Cambodia, except maybe the extreme north. This is a black and white (sometimes yellow) snake, measuring 1-2 metres, which is named for the single circular marking on the back of its head, compared to the two circles in the Indian cobra, AKA the “spectacled” cobra.
Monocled cobras inhabit woods. but rarely deeper forests. They’re much more common in open habitats, including in human settlements. Like all cobras, they’re flexible eaters, but 75.8% of their prey consists of rodents, according to a Thai study. They also prey on fellow snakes, including sunbeam snakes and red-tailed pipe snakes (Cylindrophis rufus).
Cambodia also hosts the Indochinese spitting cobra, which prefers drier locations. Monocled cobras are more common in watery areas which are prone to flooding, particularly rice paddy fields. Monocled cobras are thankfully unable to spit venom in people’s eyes, but bites are likely to cause mass superficial skin destruction and necrosis (rarely affecting deeper muscles), and even neurotoxicity.
In a study from Thailand, 50% of monocled cobra bite victims experienced 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 monocled cobras cause the highest number of fatalities annually.
| 9 | Mueller’s blind snake |
Maximum length: 48cm.
An extremely shy snake which spends the vast majority of its time underground. Mueller’s blind snakes (Argyrophis muelleri) are hardly ever seen, and are theorised to eat small earthworms and soft-bodied insect larvae.
This species reaches just 48cm, and has 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 great determination, as the video below shows.
This is a burrowing snake with a fairly thick body, which also lives in Myanmar and Thailand to the west. Müller’s blind snakes are particularly abundant in the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia. These mountains just cross into eastern Thailand, and their highest peak is Phnom Aura at 1813 metres. On the western side, the Cardamom mountains are extremely wet, receiving 5000mm of rainfall annually, while the eastern areas 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). See this video for footage of a surprisingly fast Mueller’s blind snake.
| 10 | Keeled slug snake |
Maximum length: 60cm.
The most successful and powerful of the Pareas slug-eating genus. The keeled slug snake (Pareas carinatus) measures 50-60cm, and ranges from Java in the south, northwards to Cambodia and Vietnam. This is a species of forests, never towns and cities, and poses absolutely no threat to humans whatsoever.
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. Instead, Pareas carinatus prefers snails, sneaking up on them from behind. This species has a deliberately imbalanced jaw, as their teeth are longer on their left side, in order to grip a hard shell, while simultaneously shifting their jaws to extract the juicy snail within.
Keeled slug snakes are mostly arboreal, sticking to tree branches. This makes sense for their diet, as it’s far easier to see snails moving along thin branches, compared to the cluttered forest floor where they would easily blend in.
Another snail-eating group is the Dipsas genus of South America, which includes the neotropical snail-eater of Brazil. According to a 2002 study, the keeled slug snake differs to Dipsas members in that it rarely follows a mucus trail, and never coils around the shell. Therefore, this species might be a less advanced snail hunter than its American equivalents.
| 11 | Golden kukri snake |
Maximum length: 73cm.
A ground-dwelling species, which is poorly researched, but found all over Cambodia, and much of southeast Asia. The gold kukri snake (Oligodon cinereus) ranges from Hong Kong to central Thailand to Bangladesh.
This species feeds on insects and spiders, and inhabits dry evergreen forests, where they grind along the leafy floor rather than climbing branches. This is one of the less defensive species, though still with a nasty bite if pushed. Like other kukri snakes, their teeth are jagged and vicious, and if manhandled, they’ll swipe their head from side to side to inflict grisly wounds.
This species overlaps with two other kukri snakes in Cambodia. The small-banded kukri snake has clear markings encircling its entire body, while the striped kukri snake has parallel vertical stripes from head to tail. The golden kukri snake is by far the plainest of the three. They have one main beige or golden colour, although as juveniles, they sometimes have a reddish tint.
One of the few patterns they sometimes have is extremely widely spaced, razor thin black markings. Some believe that the gold kukri snake is actually comprised of several species. For now, they just have one large empire, where they’re spread far and wide, but relatively rarely observed compared to other species.