Category: Asia

This green beauty is responsible for the vast majority of snake bites in Hong Kong, or possibly southern Asia.

The Bamboo pit viper or White-lipped pit viper (or occasionally called Green pit viper, Bamboo snake, or Bamboo viper) is the most common venomous snake species in Hong Kong and is responsible for over 90% of the reported snake bites. It can be found in forests, mountains, wetlands, and many different habitats. This species can also be found in Southern China, Indonesia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

A small to medium-sized snake growing to 50 cm (1’8″), up to 90 cm (2’11”). Females get bigger than males. Only males have white ventrolateral stripes.

This is a nocturnal species. Even in total darkness, they can catch their prey by using the heat-sensing pits below their eyes which most snakes don’t have. That’s why they’re called pit vipers.

Bites are painful and can cause swelling. The venom is a hemotoxin that attacks red blood cells and causes tissue damage. It may not be deadly to most healthy humans (few fatalities recorded though) but is strong enough to kill or paralyze their prey such as frogs, lizards, and small mammals.

It is one of the 50 species of Asian pit vipers (Trimeresurus). 90% of the snakes in the genus are green. A few of the minority are yellow or blue such as the Sunda Island pit viper. Some are very dark to almost black such as the Mangrove pit viper.

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See more of my encounters with Hong Kong Wildlife.

青竹蛇, 或稱竹葉青, 白唇竹葉青, 赤尾青竹絲, 是香港最常見的毒蛇。遍佈林木, 山嶺, 濕地以及許多不同的棲息地。

這個物種也可以在中國南方, 印尼,  尼泊爾, 尼泊爾, 巴格達, 緬甸, 泰國, 柬埔寨, 老撾, 越南找到。

這種中小型蛇體長可由50厘米至 90厘米, 這是一種夜行性動物, 即使在夜裡牠仍能捕獵, 使用牠們眼底下的熱能探測器官－頰窩（pits: 凹型窩狀) 由於大部分蛇都沒有頰窩, 也因此牠們被稱為 pit vipers（有凹型窩狀頰窩的蝰蛇）。

被咬到傷口會非常痛, 而且會腫脹。毒液對人類不足以致命, 但絕對足夠殺死牠們的獵物, 例如小哺乳類, 蛙類及蜥蝪。