# Snake hunting in Cambodia



## GBWhite (Sep 28, 2017)

Got this from one of my friends this morning. I'd say they're collecting them for food.


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## Scutellatus (Sep 28, 2017)

They are two very brave girls! She nearly gets tagged a couple of times by the second snake, I am assuming by its posture that it is venomous. The closest looking thing I can find is maybe a cobra.
They could also be possibly catching them for their skins George.


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## Imported_tuatara (Sep 28, 2017)

or both?


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## Skipperandrew (Sep 29, 2017)

Most likely collecting them to sell to farmers for skin trade. Both harmless species and both sought after in skin trade. Second snake looks like Taiwanese rat snake subspecies Orthriophis taeniurus callicyanous ? They look like they have done this many times and determined to get them without harming them or they will be worthless. If they were for food they would probably just kill them there.


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## ronhalling (Sep 30, 2017)

@Skipperandrew In South East Asia all reptiles collected for the food trade are kept alive so that their freshness can be guaranteed, the live snake pulled out of the box alive to cook commands more money than the uninviting dead one. *( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling-*


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## GBWhite (Sep 30, 2017)

Skipperandrew said:


> Most likely collecting them to sell to farmers for skin trade. Both harmless species and both sought after in skin trade. Second snake looks like Taiwanese rat snake subspecies Orthriophis taeniurus callicyanous ? They look like they have done this many times and determined to get them without harming them or they will be worthless. If they were for food they would probably just kill them there.



Hi Andrew,

You could be right but I think that the ones being collected in this video are for food. Snakes are a main contributor in the diet of rural Cambodians and Ron is correct in that they keep them alive to eat because they like to eat them fresh and dead snakes deteriorate very quickly in the climate. They usually eat them a short while after being caught. They just chop the heads off and skin small snakes before cooking them whole while the larger ones are killed, skinned and chopped up into smaller pieces.

As far as I'm aware, Orthriophis taeniurus come in a large variety of colours and patterns but my understanding (and I could be wrong) is that "callicyanous" is often referred to as the Taiwanese Blue Beauty due to it's distinctive and consistent blue dorsal colour. I believe they are usually found in caves where they feed on bats. I've been told that there is also a big market for them in Europe and the UK.

Going off the colour and pattern I think you'll find that the ones in this video are Radiated Rat Snakes (Coelognathus radiata)...also known as Copper Headed Racer and from what I've read they are the most commonly encountered snakes in Cambodia and Taiwan as well as other parts of South East Asia.

Happy to be corrected if anyone knows better.

Cheers,

George.


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