Saving Snakes

Category: 4. Colubridae - TYPICAL SNAKES | Date: Nov 22 2007 | By: admin

This afternoon we collected two Speckled Bush Snakes Philothamnus punctatus from the Jimba area west of Bio-Ken. One normal, i.e. green in colour the second blue, a rare colour phase which is actually reasonably common in the Watamu area. The snakes were collected from two separate villages, both in good condition and were both released at the Snake farm about an hour latter. After the sad story of the one killed earlier in the day, it feels great to have been able to save two of the same species, in the same area, in the same day. Photos were not taken so we have posted two from our library for reference. Photos - Green by Sienna Burns, Blue by Dannie Throne

Technorati : Philothamnus punctatus, Speckled Bush Snake

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Category: 4. Colubridae - TYPICAL SNAKES | Date: Nov 22 2007 | By: admin

Being seen driving ‘Olive’ our old Bio-Ken Snake Farm land-rover a group of building site workers pulled me over to say very proudly that they had just killed a very dangerous Green Mamba Dendroaspis angusticeps that tried to attack them while they were eating breakfast in a road side kiosk. On inspecting the snake I found that they had killed a juvenile Speckled Bush Snake Philothamnus punctatus, a non venomous species that is completely harmless.

I was actually quite annoyed about the whole thing but getting angry and shouting is not going to change their perception of these very misunderstood creatures. I explained with great enthusiasm the beauty and importance of the said snake species and showing them the amazing colours and markings managed to put it into context by saying how do you feel when you see a group of children jumping up and down when they have just killed a beautiful sun bird? One replied “yes! such a waste isn’t it”. “EXACTLY!” I said and left the group smiling but feeling quite sad about the whole thing. We could not save this one but I am sure I have already saved the next Bush Snake that crosses the path of either of the four workmen. Photo by Royjan Taylor

Technorati : Philothamnus punctatus, Speckled Bush Snake

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Category: 4. Colubridae - TYPICAL SNAKES | Date: Nov 22 2007 | By: admin

Yesterday afternoon we rescued a Red Head Beaked Snake Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus from Mr. Richard Bennett’s house in Watamu. It had first been wrongly identified as a Black Mamba Dendroaspis polylepis by the house staff. Fortunately it was not killed and we were called to remove it, just goes to show that even a snake as docile as the Red Head Beaked Snake can very easily be killed just for looking similar to a dangerous one. The snake was released into the wild about half a kilometre behind the snake farm. Photo by Mike Dobiey.

Technorati : Beaked Snake, Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus

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