Hong Kong's Deadliest Snakes

There are 14 native venomous land snakes in Hong Kong, and of those 14, only 8 can inflict fatal bites (if not treated in time). All of the sea snakes in Hong Kong are highly venomous, however they are rarely seen.


http://www.hiking.hk/page/snakes

I've seen two big snakes while hiking in the Repulse Bay area but they quickly moved off when they saw me. Best to make a lot of noise if going through an unpaved or overgrown trail. They never come onto the concrete trails from what people tell me.

Snakes are common in Hong Kong, wherever there is thick vegetation this means they exist on the fringes of all of the urban environment. Snakes are timid rarely aggressive creatures, unless provoked, cornered or threatened and would rather slither away to avoid confrontation. The may be found on roads and concrete paths in the evening time in Autumn, seeking the irradiated warmth of the hard surface. I live in Tai Po, and have a 12 foot long King Cobra as a resident of my garden and a few others around, they are territorial snakes and even they would prefer to avoid confrontation. One of my dogs died as a result of a venomous bite, dogs do tend to provoke attack. After that incident we caught 26 Red Neck Keelback's and a couple of Bamboo snakes in the garden, which we relocated to the country park. We did have one incident when the King came into the kitchen, but that too had a happy ending. A few weeks back, I came across a Red Neck Keelback under attack by a giant Asian centipede (about a third the length of the snake), quite a surprising prey for the insect.


The short of it is, give them the respect that they need, a snake will never lie in "ambush" you, just watch your step and disturb snakes in you path by making a noise or throwing an object in their general direction to get them to move on.