“Well, being in one of India’s best herpetological hotspots for last four months , such situations were all too common for me. On holidays people flocks at my small four feet by 7 feet apartment in a banana plantation to see snakes and also to find me, not only surviving, but also flourishing amongst them!”
My actual purpose of visiting Arunachal wan never fulfilled, but instead my so called academic trip turned into a full fledged unofficial herpetofaunal survey in the region, and not to mention my room, which I described above , turned into a terrarium! Keelbacks, rat snakes ,trinkets, kraits were all part of my small, ever growing family!That morning as I finished watering the plants , I heard my landlord screaming. There was a snake he saw somewhere in his kitchen, but then it vanished! Thinking it to be just another rat snake, who made frequent visits inside rooms, I left my tongs back this time. The kitchen, to every snake handler’s horror was dark, moist and continuous rains had made its floor muddy. I looked around and there was this big black spider with a egg sac on its back sitting behind the glass jars, enough to put my confidence level down to zero! Nevertheless I walked in looking for the snake!
Minuets passed … Nothing!
Hopelessly I started kicking around to uncover some more disgusting spiders! Thinking the snake might have escaped this time, I picked up my snake bag and thought of moving out of the kitchen. That’s when things Changed! As I bent down , I saw there was a bundle of gunny bags kept under one of the cemented shelves. Though I dint have much hope of finding anything there, even so I pulled it out. As the bundle opened on itself, a snake no less than 3ft sprang out of it and side winded towards the door where my landlord was standing so long hopelessly! Krait! I remember me saying. Screaming back at him I asked him to get my tongs which was always kept under my bed. The snake now on the loose coiled itself up behind the door, as I sat there admiring its beauty. Shiny jet black body, head not broader than the neck, its distinguished as a member of the genus Bungarus by the presence of enlarged vertebral scales. Eyes small, round and black, a well known venomous snake of the region, and definitely my first Bungarus niger.Ahh! My trusty grab stick was there atlast. As he passed it to me, I caught the snake, mid body, and quickly bagged it. Once in the bag and secure, I picked it up and walked towards my room with great pride! Now in my room I opened the bag to check the animal, thr was this snake coiled up and beside it lies a half digested little rat! So is this popularly known ophiophagus snake also has a taste for mammals? Well, only one way to be positive, I got to keep it!
Later that afternoon, I brought the snake out to show it to some of my friends from the neighborhood and that’s when I saw the real aggression of it. As I dropped the snake from the bag, in defensive response it hid its head under its coils. To give my friends a better view of its shy head, I tried to coax it out with a stick…. And Bang!... Bang Bang Bang! Multiple bites in a second perhaps! Thankfully none on my limbs. Seeing this, so far enthusiastic friends made a quick escape, leaving me to tackle the insane animal all by myself. Taking no chances, I caught the snake in the same fashion and dropped it in its pen, which was nothing but a bookshelf with partly rotten wood!
In course of time I feed the snake successfully on both rats and snakes , making it one of my favorites in the collection. A two and half feet Rhabdophis subminiatus took a little over a minuet to die, while rats passed away within 10 to 15 seconds. This could be a reason for this species to prefer mammalian diet, as they are much easier to kill and definitely to find. Few weeks later I found another male in my neighborhood chasing mice, ultimately hunting it down with great efficiency, Something which I say should be witnessed by all herp enthusiasts.
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