Locals pray to blue snake in northeast Thailand

On Sunday, villagers in Nakhon Ratchasima in northeast Thailand spotted a blue snake in a tree that has never been seen before in Thailand. Villagers lit incense and prayed to the snake, believing it is sure to bring them good luck.

Isaan is brimming with snakes, but no one has ever reported seeing this kind of snake before. The bright blue, one metre long serpent soon attracted a crowd of locals at Ban Song Khon village in Sung Noen district. Villagers said the snake was moving slowly and did not appear to be frightened.

A 45 year old local man, Pradit Donsoonnoen, said none of the villagers had seen this snake before. No one knew the species or whether it was venomous. When he took the snake in a bucket to show his friends, they thought it was a toy snake.

Locals lit incense, prayed to the sky blue snake and thought about what lottery numbers to buy before releasing it back into nature.

The snake was posted in a Facebook snake identification group ‘Snakes of Isaan.’ Everyone agreed that it looked like some kind of deadly venomous Pit Viper due to its shape, but no one had ever seen it before in Thailand. Snake enthusiasts in the comments section were bewildered…

“Absolutely no Isaan snake. Looks like photoshop?”

“I know that you can get blue pit vipers on Tioman island, but that’s in Malaysia, not Thailand.”

“Perhaps it arrived as an invasive. A hitchhiker on a container ship then trucked in?”

“Trimeresurus insularis (Blue Pit Viper) is a venomous pit viper species found in eastern Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia.”

“The blue variety is rare, and only occurs in places such as Komodo Island, where both green and blue individuals have been spotted. They have a ‘hemorrhagic’ venom, which can cause pain, swelling, necrosis of the flesh, and severe bleeding, both internally and externally.”

An administrator of the group commented, “Are you sure it’s from Thailand? If so… looks like a White Lipped Pit Viper (Trimeresurus cf. albolabris) Venomous #admin.”

Jesada Denduangboriban from Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Biology agrees with the consensus that the snake is some kind of Pit Viper…

“What is worrying me is that Pit Vipers are very venomous, deadly snakes (unlike the common green vine snake which has almost no venom). Whoever is catching and playing with this snake, be very careful, it is extremely dangerous.”

Whatever it is, it is certainly rare and locals are sure it will bring good fortune to villagers, hopefully in the form of winning lottery numbers. Locals are vouching for the number 125, which is the house number where the incense ceremony took place.

SOURCE: CH3, Sanook, Snakes of Isaan