Continuing my snake rescue journey of 2023 (first half) on this page. For the previous year, click here. For the second half of 2023, click here.
While I have been a part of multiple rescues, these are only the ones I have either managed on my own or been an active assist.
The year starts off with one of our favs. This tiny Cobra was hiding in the garden inside a hollow brick. We didn’t have to bag it. Used the brick itself as a bag and carried it for release.
This fairly frisky one was dashing across the path in the H cluster before I gently moved it to its fav spot – stone walls.
Another tiny Wolf snake was just outside the door sending the residents into a frenzy. Moved it outside Patterns to safety in my whiskey case 🙂
This. This one wasn’t a rescue (hence no number) but had everything that was needed for one. A long wait (2 hours), a swift move to grab it while it was trying to escape from a hole, and an open area set up for the pipe and the bag. But. But, the Cobra was like “I’ve seen this bruh!”. After grabbing it thrice with the tongs, this one managed to escape into one of the many holes, the layouts of which this Cobra had a great sense of.
The slowest and most lethargic one I’ve caught so far. Must’ve had a heavy meal, hence just didn’t move at all. Kept it with me all day before releasing it after sunset.
Looks like a Wolf snake fest. We’ve been spotting these consistently now. This was right outside another front door next to a shoe rack. The tiny lizard eggs in the pic give me the feeling that it may have been there for a crunchy snack.
Just when you think you know about this species, they are like “we also have some outliers, bugger”. First spotted by the resident at 12:45 PM in their front yard. After a 6-hour wait, we finally managed to bag this young Cobra after sunset. Fun fact. This is the same one we caught on 8th Jan. Funner fact. It was caught from the exact same front yard back then.
After a tiring 5-set badminton game, just as I got home, got a call from Medley. It was a rat snake but it managed to get inside the DG room. With people working there, had to move it. Played hide and seek for about 30 minutes before moving this one to safety.
Back to back snakes suddenly. This one was found by the residents inside their ‘khamba’. I guess it was trying to decompose itself. Slightly bigger than the ones I’ve caught this year, this one was easy to rescue and release. I’m very kicked by the timelines of this one.
Msg from the resident: 9:00 AM
Reach their place: 9:07
Rescue from the compost: 9:10
Release it outisde the community: 9:19
Every single time Malhar Laugh Club has had an event, we’ve got one of these visiting us. This small about 2.5 feet fellow was trying to get inside a house at FP. The residents were smart enough to close their mesh door. Cornered, this was easy to bag.
I usually put my phone on DnD after 10 PM. For some weird reason, had disabled it while chatting and forgot to turn it back on. That’s the only reason why the security from Patterns was able to get through to me late at night. This tricky one was hiding in the STP room and it was a bit of a struggle to get it out as these rooms are designed to help snakes hide.
What are the odds we have the two big ones here back to back, three days in a row? This 4-footer was in someone’s backyard and had given Raghu the slip while he tried to bag it. Chayant, Raghu, and I managed to coax it out of the pipe ducts (another place designed for these guys). This fellow has been rescued at least 4 times before last year.
Just when we were about to go out for a drive/ trek, this one freaks out Sreenath early in the morning. Maya seems to be very excited as you can tell from her expression. Wolf snakes so far have topped the list this year with sightings.
The small one caught on 8th Jan and 28th Feb was back. This time at a neighbor’s place from where it was caught earlier. This was an interesting rescue as Chayant and I scanned the area only to conclude that one possibility of it hiding inside a 10-foot-long pvc pipe. After inserting a hose pipe through it, our guess was right. Removed the long pipe and found it coiled up on the smaller joint on the ground. Careful coordination between Chayant and me ensured a not-so-stressful bagging.
The same security guard who once spotted a Kukri and said “Sir, chota hain magar Cobra hain” got it wrong again. This time he was like “Muh chota hain, Cobra nahin hain”. This 1.5-foot fellow managed to escape into the stone walls just as I got there. But, since it was a small hiding place, I managed to coax it out with a stick. After much “Go in” and “No, I won’t” debate with the fellow, bagged it finally without any incident.
Maybe it was the back-to-back Cobras, I saw only a part of this one while removing a whole bunch of tiles from someone’s backyard that prompted me to yell “Cobraaaa”. Until Chayant looked at me in disbelief. Moved it from there to a tree after letting a bunch of kids touch the snake to get a feel.
This must be the same one from two days ago. Since we didn’t take a hood pic, I can’t be sure. Isaac, pretty much touched this one while inserting the bike key. Close call. Bagged without any incident and also got the hood shot for future reference.
Looks like we got this one on 21st June 22 at Resonance. This one seemed to have been bothered by a cat and was with the hood up for a while. If it’s the same one caught last year, this had killed a cat then.
Mostly Chayant’s rescue and I just played second fiddle.
In between a Koota performance, I got a call from a resident saying there is a tiny snake inside their house. What looked like a small Wolf snake confused me a bit if it was the Common krait. Snakes this small can be confusing as some of the differentiators don’t really show up at this stage. Didn’t take a chance, used only the small hook and a bottle case to rescue this frisky little one.
Half the job was done by some of the workers at the construction site when they managed to move this 1.5 feet Viper into a small bucket, early morning on a Sunday while I was watching an NBA game between GSW and LAL. Bagging it post that was easy and released it near the lake. Instructed the workers to be careful while handling venomous ones like these.
Sometimes, snakes decide to visit you instead of the other way around. This tiny little one was on my door. Used a stick to move into my standard whiskey bottle before releasing it in the pond.
Tea and Coffee drinkers at Tarana office were in for a surprise when they found a snake coiled up in a tree next to the kitchen. A closer look concluded it was a Cobra to our surprise since they are not really that good climbers compared to a rat snake. Chayant managed to untangle it using the tongs and bagged it without too much drama. This one looks new and I don’t think we’ve caught it before.
I’ve been busy from the time I got back from a two week break. This small cobra looked familiar but I couldn’t take a picture of the hood. Was right next to my house, so possibly the fastest response time so far 🙂
Suprised to find this during the day under bright light. Workers at Motif construcion site spotted this moving from one spot to another fairly quickly. May be it was stressed with a lot of people around and lost. Hissed and tried to leap as I was trying to bag it. Looks like the Viper season is officially on and we are bound to find a lot more small ones in the coming days.
This particular one has been caught multiple times. The last time was on 30th April at Mosaic, rescued by Raghu. This time around too, Raghu spotted it go into a broadband junction box right outside his house. After about 30 mins of tug of war, with Chayant’s help, we managed to draw it out. While trying to get the hood during release, I managed to get this DP worthy shot 🙂
The common krait, also known as Bengal krait, is a species of highly venomous elapid snake of the genus Bungarus native to the Indian subcontinent. It is a member of the “Big Four” species that inflict the most snakebites on humans in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
While I have seen Chayant rescue one a few years ago, this was my first. By the time we got to the resident’s garden, this tiny (probably a week old) Krait has disappeared into leaf litter. Careful combing for about 15 mins ensured a safe rescue and release.
9th time recorded capture. This one surely is going for some record of sorts. It’s the same one caught yesterday. For the first time, Chayant used his GoPro (finally) and recorded the entire rescue from the time we got to the house to bagging it. From reaching the house to bagging it, in 4 mins.
This is the second time when I have gone for a rescue, I have ended up with two. “Sir, ek aur hain!”. This slightly bigger one was trying to get away and I didn’t have it in me to grab it by hand as they bite badly. Chayant had to catch it before I could handle it.
The second one was hiding inside a storeroom. But this was much smaller. So I was able to pick it up although it did bite me mildly.
A really tiny Viper was reported from a backyard in the morning. I had a crew of Twisha and Nemo filming the rescue. They did a fine job. Because it was tiny, getting it into the case was a bit of a task.
The ‘bike Cobra’ caught on 30th March was back. I have a feeling it’s also the same one I tried rescuing just two days ago near gate 3, FP. This one hid between long rectangular pots and tried to escape when we laid our trap. Thankfully, Prithvi and Chayant were around. I am still not there tailing a smaller Cobra.
The one caught neat Resonance pond on 1st May this year and 21st June last year was caught again by Chayant on 27th May. This is a one-eyed pirate who keeps coming back. At Mosaic this time, he was moving from FX to F9, so he wasn’t very Fast & Furious. Although initially a bit reluctant, managed to bag it after some convincing. Released at our usual spot, will wait and see when this one surfaces again.
Getting one of these after a while. It was frisky and not very happy to get inside the bottle. Found near the driveway. Moved it to safety so that it doesn’t get run over.
Sometimes, they get inside your house. A small keelback got inside a bathroom, maybe via some furniture move. The residents kept an eye till I got there, hence rescuing was made easy.
Bit of a waiting game with this one. A small cobra hid between the stone walls near a driveway. Thanks to vehicle movement, we had to hide and wait until it decided to venture out. To our luck, it moved to a spot that was just concrete and had no escape. With Chayant and me on either side of the snake, this was a very clean and smooth rescue.
Got the shock of our lives when we received a video early morning of a house help moving a rather slow Viper with a leaf. A LEAF!!!
It was her sheer luck that this one was extremely sluggish. We explained to her and the community in general how something like this should never be repeated by anyone.
Gotta be the smallest and cutest Cobra we’ve seen this year. Probably just a week old. But the attitude was of a gangster. The tiny one was being bothered by a cat which alerted the residents. When we went to rescue, it put its huge 2 cm hood up and stayed like that until we moved it to a safer space. This was also Sreedevi’s first official rescue.
The day we were called 6 times to rescue one Cobra after another. This particular one gave us a hard time. It had climbed up a tree and each time approached it, it just climbed higher and higher. Snakes and Ladders had to be played before we somehow got it down. Post that, it refused to get into the pipe and made a dash toward an exit. Thanks to the tongs, I was able to spoil that plan and after much drama, we finally managed to bag it. Looks like it’s the 10th time we have caught this one.
To compensate for the high drama, 30 minutes after releasing that, got another call. From spotting it to bagging it was done in under a minute. Some consolation for a really draining day.
Cobra on bikes is not uncommon. Never thought I’d say that. A tiny one got inside a scooter and we had to almost dismantle the front part of the bike to reach it. It had climbed all the way up to the headlight of the bike.
Usually don’t need moving but this shiny 6 feet rat snake was right next to the main door under the shoe rack. Had to move it. But, it had just eaten which I was not aware of when I approached it. It ended up regurgitating a couple of frogs. Wasn’t happy I spoiled its meal. But, these things do happen at times.
Just as I was returning from looking for a cobra in D cluster, the gardeners at H cluster were heard shouting “haaaavu”. At the parking lot found this over-excited/ scared keelback which was hard to pick up from the ground as it was bouncing all over. Bit me all the way to the pond where it was released.
The folks at Motif construction site had managed to restrict a large rat snake under some plywood. While it really didn’t need any moving, they asked us to move it at least away from where they are working. Just as we were trying to grab it, got another call from someone who works at the same site claiming there is a snake inside someone’s house in Brindavan nagar.
There was indeed a snake inside the house near Orchard. Turned out to be a tiny Cobra behind a TV unit. Carefully picked it up much to the amusement of the residents and people who gathered around there.
This one really didn’t need to be moved but, wanted to see how confident I am to grab a large rat snake using just hands. That first contact is always a mental block. Once in control, feels like it’s nothing. Bit of hide and seek before this was finally picked up. Got some of the kids to touch it before releasing it into the central garden area.
Everyone: Dude, why do you wear short during rescues? Can’t you at least wear full pants?
Me: Okay.
Snake: Come da, swim with me.
This checkered keelback got into a pool and I had to walk around a bit before grabbing. Thankfully, this was in the kids section. Else, swimming and catching would’ve been a sight.
My 50th was a rat snake. 100th turned out to be the same. This one was caught in a fishing net under scraps of metal. Took both Chayant and me a decent bit of time and precision to free this one from its ordeal. Thankfully, no major injury on the snake. But yeah, it’s a century, alright!
