I have heard stories of Ubin dogs killed or blinded by spitting cobras. I haven’t seen any until last week and again today in two separate locations. Fortunately they are easy to spot as they flee in their slender dark shape against the lighter colored forest floor.
As in their nature, dogs will gave chase to fleeing prey. It when it raised its head and spread its hood in defense that I realized its a cobra and spitting one too after googling for them when I got home.
The dogs accompanying me were not hurt. I was yelling at them to get away that I didn’t get to take pictures.
They looked exactly like the picture below from SLOG (Singapore Snakes Blog)
You need not worry about poisonous snakes if you are just a casual visitor to Ubin. Snakes are shy creatures that keep away from humans. I stumbled upon them while walking in places that are usually deserted.
There are also natural predators including wild boars, monitor lizards which help keep down the number of snakes.
According to Mr. Lim who lives at Marman beach orchid farm, cobras are attracted to toads which form major part of their diet in Ubin and are plentiful in the rubber plantation. He would often find a cobra nearby when he see toads hopping and fleeing away.
Should you get a snake bite kit for your next camping trip? Most sites advise against getting snake bites kits. Best is to call Police Coast Guard by dialing 999 if you need help in emergency. My friend picked up what he thought was a grass snake. Turned out to be to be a paradise tree snake which promptly bit him. He thought he is going to die but the Nature society guys around him assured him that its mildly poisonous and the pain would subside in a few hours. One Ubin villager got nearly bitten by a cobra while finding durians. Fortunately for her the snake was not able to sink its fangs but raked over the leg which showed a line of small puncture marks. Not only mongoose or honey badgers win their fights against the venomous cobra, there are many cases where village dogs killed cobras. Cobras has to strike accurately to kill but they don’t always do and the dogs would kill by grabbing and shaking violently.
