#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Farming & Gardening In Thailand >  >  Animal invasion!

## stroller

Well, I got used to the ant armies, occasional cockroach and unidentified flying things to make their way across our living room, but too much is too much:
Last night I was woken up by the banging on the bedroom door, it was a giant gecko fighting with a scorpion!

The 3rd time within 2 weeks we had a scorpion in the house.
Now these things give me the creeps!

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## in4zip

get used to it Stroller... all still manageable and..

better than some chavs or skinheads
doing a number on you and yours  :Sad:

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## Thetyim

You will have to learn how to moderate them

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## Little Chuchok

Harden up stroll. :sheep2:

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## kingwilly

RU a girl or a man ?

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## danbo

You should try to imagine the Scorpion and Gecko as giant mutant creatures, a la Godzilla and....errrm Scorpion man.  That way, from your perspective, you'll be a super-super giant and nothing in the world will be able to harm you....You could also eat cauliflower and make believe that it's oak trees.

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## stroller

They _did_ appear like giant mutants for a moment when I was pulled out of dreamland.
The gecko disappeared fleeing up the wall, grabbing the scorpion and politely throwing it out of the window didn't leave much space for further imagination.

Gotta know when to sober up. I did get that one right most of my life.

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## Ice Maiden

I've never actually seen any scorpians in my house before. But I have seen snakes before quite a few times.

But I like having the gecko or two in the house because I know they feed from the annoying mosquitoes, flies and other nasty creepy crawlies.

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## Eliminator

T troller is afraid of gheckos and bugs, what a woos. It's the bugs and animals you don't see that will hurt you. I'm sure RC didn't see the scorpion that got him. I'm also confident that if RC had seen it first, it wouldn't have bitten him and he wouldn't have run screaming like a little girl.  :Lmao:

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## mrsquirrel

I haven't seen any centipedes, snakes or scorpions in my garden and I have a

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## forreachingme

Hey Stroller, could you just grab the Gecko by your hands....

It is for a test, some told me it will stay glued or attached to the hand and you will have marks and pain...

Just to see if this is true,...... thanks man   :sheep2:  


I tried with a lizard but it did'nt work, no pain, no marks....

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## stroller

Geckos are too fast for me, and the big ones have a mean bite. I use the metal tongues from the bbq to handle the scorpions. Last year one of the larger specimens was stupid enough to show up when the bbq was going, it ended up being grilled.
Scorpions taste nice, like crab with an earthy kind of flavour.

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## danbo

> I haven't seen any centipedes, snakes or scorpions in my garden and I have a


....very short attention span?

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## benbaaa

^ LOL

When we had the floods in Chiang Mai last autumn, my sister-in-law killed about six black scorpions and a dozen of those long, biting centipedes as they were heading for the high ground - ie my living room. Glad she was around, actually - not only was she an efficient killing machine, she even waded to the shop to get me beer and crisps.  What a star.   :Smile:

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## The Gent

> Harden up stroll.


Yeah, get used to it.
I used to have a giant 'doo-kaa' living behind my 'too yen'.
He was cool but the old lady didn't think so...

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## stroller

I almost dropped me coffee when one of the playing kids threw a scorpion on the breakfast table.

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## Eliminator

> ^ LOL
> 
> When we had the floods in Chiang Mai last autumn, my sister-in-law killed about six black scorpions and a dozen of those long, biting centipedes as they were heading for the high ground - ie my living room. Glad she was around, actually - not only was she an efficient killing machine, she even waded to the shop to get me beer and crisps.  What a star.


Since you didn't like my comment about t troller being a woos about bugs and gheckos and gave me a RED, I decided to return the favor. I did make a mistake though and shouldn't have called you "a slag", I should have just said, "you are slag".  Are you a woos too, or just a lazy git that gets others to do things for them?  :Buttkick:  I think any MAN has to be a woos to be scared of little bugs and gheckos. Caution and knowledge is the key to handle these critters or even snakes, not freight. 

Be sure and run to your sister-in-law the next time this happens, she seems like she's more logical about handling situations and isn't lazy either.

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## stroller

What is frightening about scorpions, is that you don't easily see them, they hide in dark places, such as behind the ref near the light-switch, and like to come into the house at night, when I am heading towards the toilet barefoot.

I haven't been stung, but they have my respect, as have giant centipedes - which you can eat as well, apparently, haven't tried it yet, the last (and first) one I hunted down ended up with the garbage.

Spiders - now that's an irrational fear ( not one of mine), I don't think there are any poisonous ones in Thailand.

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## The Gent

> Harden up stroll.


Get a grip...

y

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## RandomChances

I've been biten or stung by nearly anything that flys or crawls here, apart form snakes(although they have tried a few times) and those centipied things which we dont really get many of around here. Good boot's are worth their weight in gold IMO if you are working out doors.

Scorpian stings are'nt that bad, painful but the swelling and pain does'nt last that long a few hours mabye. The first time I got stung by a scorpian was when one was hiding in a pair of shorts I put on, got me right at the top of the leg....an inch or two higher and shudder to think of the pain involved....you would not belive how quickly those shorts came off  :Smile: 

The worse I've found are those evil looking flying ant type things ( I forget the name), they build little honeycome type nests out of mud and are very teritorial, usually stinging on mass if you get to close, picked 4 up in one go once on my arm...took days for the swelling to go down.

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## stroller

Wasps?

And was the centipede bite as bad as folklore would have it?

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## RandomChances

> Wasps?  And was the centipede bite as bad as folklore would have it?


I said "apart form snakes and centipieds" so have'nt got biten by one yet. "Wasps?" Those really big ones? if so yes only once, they are'nt very agressive, not much worse than a bee sting. Bee's loads of times, usually dead ones. Used to have a nest somewhere in the walls, kept steping on dead bees  :Smile:

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## kingwilly

> Wasps?
> 
> And was the centipede bite as bad as folklore would have it?


some are most are not!

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## stroller

The kids poked this one to fall off the lam-yai tree some time ago:
 
Well it took a while for the dogs to get to it

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## stroller

This is one of the scorpions I was on about**:

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## poolcleaner

> ^ LOL
> 
> When we had the floods in Chiang Mai last autumn, my sister-in-law killed about six black scorpions and a dozen of those long, biting centipedes as they were heading for the high ground - ie my living room. Glad she was around, actually - not only was she an efficient killing machine, she even waded to the shop to get me beer and crisps.  What a star.


Is she on e-Bay?  I might make a bid for one of those!

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## Dougal

> The kids poked this one to fall off the lam-yai tree some time ago:


Any idea what type of snake that is?

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## stroller

"ngoo kiau" = green snake they call it. :Smile: 

I was hoping someone could identify it.
Apparently it is moderately poisonous.
And they (my neighbours) don't eat it, and I wasn't in the mood to try an skin and cook it.

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## Dougal

Looks like it might be this one.

http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/sna...tree-snake.htm

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## RandomChances

> "ngoo kiau" = green snake they call it


They seem to be pretty common. I used to have one living in an old water cooler at the back of my computer room, just could'nt get it out of there. It only stayed for about a week, my misses was freaking about it but fairly harmless really. We had a cobra hiding behind the fridge in the shop about 4 days ago....killed that though as it was too dangerous just to leave and of course no one would go into the shop.

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## Curious George

> Looks like it might be this one.
> http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/sna...tree-snake.htm


 From stroller's great photos, you've got that one correct. 
It's _Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima_ (The Golden Tree Snake). In Thai: ngoo kio pra in

They're a beautiful animal, can reach about 150 cm in length, and are not in the least venomous. They may feign to bite though, if aggravated.

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## stroller

Thanks, that is very useful to know.

From now on, they're a protected species on my property.

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## Dougal

^ They are one of a group of snakes that climb trees and can glide either to the ground or to other nearby trees.

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## dirtydog

> and are not in the least venomous. They may feign to bite though,


I believe it is called "gin trap teeth", they aint poisonous but you can get an infection if their teeth break your skin.

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## Curious George

> I believe it is called "gin trap teeth",...


That's interesting. I've heard that term applied to a Tiger Fish's teeth once, but never a snake. I must say it's quite appropriate.



The nonvenomous terrestrial/arboreal species usually leave a fairly clean bite. However, water snakes can inflict a very nasty infectious bite, with or without teeth left behind.

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## Torbek

> We had a cobra hiding behind the fridge in the shop about 4 days ago....killed that though as it was too dangerous just to leave and of course no one would go into the shop.


How did you kill it? Yourself or someone else?

I freely admit to being completely, irrationally shit-scared of snakes. Don't know why...other than almost stepping on a death adder when I was about 10, the occasional carpet snake in Queensland, and a couple of green snakes here, I've never actually had an encounter of any sort. 

They just freak me...and no amount of calling me a woos is going to get me to move a fridge to kill a cobra!

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## RandomChances

> How did you kill it? Yourself or someone else?


Two of us, my mate has fork type thing on a pole (I think meant for fish). He traped it with that then I hit it with a big piece of wood....moving the fridge was the dodgy part

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## attaboy

Gig?

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## RandomChances

^ thats the one  :Smile:

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## benbaaa

Here's one of those centipede buggers.  I think it's called the Asian Tiger Leg Centipede, but I'm not sure about that.



The real ones are 5-6 inches long.

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## benbaaa

Hmmm. Just googled it and now I think it's just the Giant Asian Centipede.

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## stroller

There's another, more common variety, with a more rounded body, like a mini Frankfurter and it's got more legs as well. The baby ones have coloured legs and/or trunk, I have seen green/red ones.

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## hillbilly

Find this crossing the street near my home.


And look where this lizard's home is...

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## Eliminator

I was wrong for attacking TT in this thread and apologise to him and the rest of you for that. My mistake and noted.

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## Curious George

> Find this crossing the street near my home.
> ...


That's a monitor lizard, and looks like a Varanus salvadorii or more commonly known as a crocodile monitor. Its coloring is quite light though, so I'm not sure.

Varanus salvadorii

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## Sukhoi

A lot of people think those millipedes bite but I don’t think they do.  A colleague had picked one up the other day and it just curled into a ball.  I have had two centipedes in the flat – I live in central Bangkok.  First one about 4-5 inches and second one about 3 inches.  Both in my towel as I came out the shower – running across my body.  Do these small ones bite?  They did not bite me.

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## mrsquirrel

Damn Doo Kae in the bathroom tonight.

I told the missus to get rid of it and she tried to pick it up, of course it lunged at her so she screamed grabbed the mop and chased it to the ceiling where we couldn't reach it.

SO i had to stand on the bog and knock it down wher eit hid behind the toilet.

I squirted it with the bum gun and the fucker ran at me. I screamed like a bitch and ran out with the missus laughing away at me.

Clever bitch got the bin and the doo kae ran into it and she took it outside.

She has now been running about the house screaming and pretending to be a scared farang.

It was fucking huge 

(it was a bit bigger than a gecko)

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## Curious George

> ...(it was a bit bigger than a gecko)


Just thought I'd mention that a Tokay is a Gecko. They can inflict a nasty bite, if you let them.

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## ChiangMai noon

Yes, but their not the same as those tinsy little house ghekos that are so cute and common.

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## stroller

I think it's the same species, a few months/years later!
We got a few of those, the droppings of the small ones are like a black rice-grain with a white bit at one end, the droppings of the big ones are just a bigger version of it.

Slipped on it a few times heading for the bathroom late at night.

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## ChiangMai noon

nahh, not the same thing at all.

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## Curious George

^ CMn is correct. There are over one thousand species of Gecko. The cute one you referred to is probably, as you said, the common Asian House Gecko. The Tokay Gecko referred to earlier is _Gekko gecko_, and the Asian House Gecko is _Hemidactylus frenatus_.

*Asian House Gecko*


If you have any interest, you can check out this great database with photos.

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## mrsquirrel

> Slipped on it a few times heading for the bathroom late at night.


You killed it then?

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## stroller

Meanwhile, I've got another mouth to feed...
A neighbour presented me with this bird which was abandoned by its mother (I'm known to be fond of animals).
It's got beautiful blue wings and is a carnivore. It feeds on certain larger insects, and raw pork as I found out trying to shut it up for a bit (I'm no good at hunting grasshoppers):

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## ChiangMai noon

it's some sort of a Thai type of jay isn't it?

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## Dougal

Its not a great picture Stroller. How big is it? - Say compared to a crow.

What part of the country are you in and was the bird found in open country or in the trees?

If it is a juvenile it will probably not be in adult plumage but I would take a preliminary stab at an Asian Fairy Bluebird.

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## Sir Burr

Have had a few of the house geckos die, yet, in death, they still cling to the wall. Weird!.
By the way. The gecko shit that is brown with the white tip. The brown is shit and the white is urea (equivalent of piss). Pretty neat eh?

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## Little Chuchok

> Have had a few of the house geckos die, yet, in death, they still cling to the wall. Weird!.
> By the way. The gecko shit that is brown with the white tip. The brown is shit and the white is urea (equivalent of piss). Pretty neat eh?


Nice! :Very Happy:

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## Whiteshiva

> Originally Posted by Dougal
> 
> Looks like it might be this one.
> http://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/sna...tree-snake.htm
> 
> 
>  From stroller's great photos, you've got that one correct. 
> It's _Chrysopelea ornata ornatissima_ (The Golden Tree Snake). In Thai: ngoo kio pra in
> 
> They're a beautiful animal, can reach about 150 cm in length, and are not in the least venomous. They may feign to bite though, if aggravated.


According to my sources, it is mildly venomous, but rear fanged, so unless you ram a finger down its throat, you should be OK.  A fairly agressive snake and very quick.  I have spottet one in my garden a few times, but it is very difficult to catch and strikes freely at whatever you poke it with, so I have decided to leave it alone, and not tell the wife about it.  It is wonderfully camouflaged as well, and real difficult to see when it is lying still in a bush or a tree.

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## Ken May

> Originally Posted by mrsquirrel
> 
> ...(it was a bit bigger than a gecko)
> 
> 
> Just thought I'd mention that a Tokay is a Gecko. They can inflict a nasty bite, if you let them.


My cat killed one of those yesterday. He ate the tail off and some of its guts. My bartender says that they taste just like chicken. But this one was already filled with maggots so I didn't eat it. In repect for my cat I left it on the ground all day. It deserves bragging rites for the hunt. Maybe I'll scrape it up tomorrow and throw it into the river, but it sort of looks cool watching rot for awhile.

My cat has also killed two mice and a bird. If anyone wants I could post a few photos.

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## RandomChances

My dogs regulary kill lizards, mice, rats, even fish. Its prrobably cos we only feed them whatever leftovers there are and the big dog does'nt let any of the others have any.

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## Curious George

> According to my sources, it is mildly venomous, but rear fanged,...


I own this lovely and expensive collection of reptile references. I guess I should just trash them, because they are wrong.

I just contacted a Herpetologist and good friend, who wrote a reference book on the snakes of Vietnam. He corroborates your finding. The Golden Tree Snake is indeed rear fanged and mildly venomous. The only thing to add is that the venom seems to have little if any affect on humans.

Thank-you for the correction. Would you like to witness the book burning?  :Sad:

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## friscofrankie

> Thank-you for the correction. Would you like to witness the book burning?


Fuck that, just sell 'em Some of the stuff gotta be right..

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## stroller

Here another pic of that bird, it's gone now, flew away while taken out to hunt for insects:

Here a rare butterfly which found its way to my front-gate:

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## dirtydog

Thats an atlas moth isn't it? great big beasty, I have a dead one of them.

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## dirtydog

Here is a sparrow that comes to visit me everyday, him and his family have a nest in the mains electric cables downstairs.

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## friscofrankie

Went up inthe hills couple a weeks ago.  Stopped to climb some stairs take sme shot of the "temple"  thurned out toe be a half-finished chedi.  Coming back down this guy was runnin about two steps ahead.  Guess he got tired:


Then he got pissed (upset more than somewhat to you brits)


With the ol' lady screamin' the folks aheads of us freakin out he had no where to go.  Picked him up with a broom and tossed him over the snake rail.  Ol' lady said we had to leave or he'd bring his family back.  Thais are weird sometimes.

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## dirtydog

I think I will stick to the daily visits of the sparrows, they seem a lot less dangerous, here is the picture of strollers dead moth  :Smile:

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## Curious George

Frankie - Nice couple of photos of the rat snake. It's the Asian Copperhead, or Copperhead Rat Snake (_Elaphe radiata_), and therefore harmless.

Apparently, some showmen in Phuket dupe the tourists into thinking they are venomous, and kiss them.
 

They're great around the house to take care of pesky rats.

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## friscofrankie

^That's him allright.  i'll tell the ol' lady you said we could keep 'im.  I'm sure she'll be pleased...
 :Very Happy:

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## stroller

Actually, after reading here, I suggested to get one of these, since we have mice in the house but no cats to catch them.
*I* thought this was a reasonable proposal, but....

Still, can one buy these snakes somewhere, I do like to keep one.

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## Sir Burr

I've been through my bird field guide twice and cannot ID the bird. It must be a chick with different colouring to the adult. It's driving me mad!
Can anyone identify the bird?

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## stroller

It's called "Nok Ga-Tap" in Thai, and eats insects as well as the raw pork I fed it. I was told it doesn't change colouring and won't grow much bigger.

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## Curious George

^ Well, it's obviously a Blue Flycatcher of the species _Cyornis._ Yours is not in adult feather, so I cannot guess which subspecies. Being rather plain in color, accept for the blue on the primary flight feathers, I would guess it to be female.

Here's an example of one of the male _Cynoris_ subspecies, probably not yours.

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## stroller

Not sure. That one looks different and too small.
Beak, eye socket, body don't match - just an observation from someone who doesn't know what to look for.

It didn't catch flies, it was preying on larger insects in the hedges.

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## Curious George

Certainly, from half a world away, I could have easily missed the mark on this one, but I hope you didn't miss the point. I do not know the exact genera of the bird you had, but I still bet it was some kind of flycatcher. There are nearly 40 different ones recorded as being resident in Thailand. The previous picture was just a handy example of one species, of which there are over a half dozen subspecies. Within the species, they are very different in size when adult.

To illustrate my point, here's another flycatcher resident in Thailand.


I'll stick to my flycatcher theory, but will courteously back down if proven wrong. :Smile:

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## Whiteshiva

> To illustrate my point, here's another flycatcher resident in Thailand.


What do they taste like? :Cool:

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## Curious George

^ If you don't know the taste, 'chicken' is always an acceptable answer. :Smile:

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## Dougal

I believe that what you have there is an Indian Roller. Pretty common around Hua Hin, the iridescent blue patches show up much more clearly when the bird is in flight.

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## Curious George

^ I think you've got me on this one! I just found this reference, and believe you have the correct ID.  :Very Happy:

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## Lily

> Caution and knowledge is the key to handle these critters or even snakes, not freight.


Well, I freight them really quickly although I prefer to get other people to do it for me.

Why so upset about a red?

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## Eliminator

Lily, What red or reds are you talking about? I get so many because I'm not PC.

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## Bung

I'm having fun with rats in my ceiling at the moment. Caught two so far in traps and let them out in the bush. 

My son is now on a rabies vaccination course after being bitten when sticking his finger in the trap (I told him numerous times not to do that!)

I am seeing some big holes in the garden and think there are some monsters there. I caught a glimpse in the darkness once of some thing the size of a cat and black. I don't think it was a rat but some sort of other marsupial. Any ideas? We live on a farm.

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## Eliminator

Bung, here's a starter for you:

Getting Rid of Rats

or this:

SoYouWanna get rid of roaches, rats, and other pests?

or this:

How To Get Rid of Rats & Mice

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## RandomChances

> I'm having fun with rats in my ceiling at the moment. Caught two so far in traps and let them out in the bush.


 Another tip....dont "let them go in the bush"...kill them. The spring traps we use kill them anyway and the dead bodys make cheap and handy play toys for the dogs

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## Mr Earl

What spook me are the spiders the size of the palm of your hand. They move fast and hide well. brrrrr!

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## RDN

What, these ones...?








 - one of the hazards of "monkey mountain" in Phuket!

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## Rigger

> the size of a cat and black


No that would be the rats I was suprised too at the size of some of the rats here big and black about the same size of a water rat back home. Had a couple in a heshen sack and they still tried to attack my dogs. But they did taste nice  :Smile:  
There must be alot of different types as the rats out in the shed are nothing like the ones that they catch in the rice fields. There is some type of animal around with a head like a cat and a body of a rat around dont know the name 
Thai friend killed and ate one last week which is a bit of a shame as theres not many of them around

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## piratescove

I really haven't had much problems with pests, except, BIG hairy tarantula looking spiders every time they fumagate the streets and under the house. Couldn't pay me enough to go under this house!

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## stroller

> I am seeing some big holes in the garden and think there are some monsters there. I caught a glimpse in the darkness once of some thing the size of a cat and black. I don't think it was a rat but some sort of other marsupial. Any ideas? We live on a farm.


Probably a mole:


Meanwhile, I came across this little fellow on a recent trip to Nakon Sawan:

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## Butch72

Red ants are my problem

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## stroller

> or this:
> 
> How To Get Rid of Rats & Mice
> __________________


Interesting article, specially this bit: :Very Happy:  


> They spread filth and pestilence. They once killed a third of Europe's people ...that's the equivalent of at least a dozen Americans.

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## Dougal

> Red ants are my problem


I loathe ants and set out to eliminate them as far as possible from the house and surrounding garden.

Baygon in the greenish tin with orange lid works OK if you push the tube right down into the nest - works well with ants that are in flower pots. Or sprayed around the corners of the house where ants like to use as a walkway.

I used ot be able to get a dark brown sticky stuff that came in a tube like a small toothpaste dispenser. The ants take it back to the nest and it kills the queen - but supplies seem to have dried up.

My receommendation at the moment is something that comes in a sachet and looks like dried biscuit crumbs when you shake it out. Sprinkled around the nest it kills the ants in a day max. 2 sachets for 30B and I get it from HomePro. It is mostly labelled in Thai but has the English text Shanjia Brand Ant Killer at the bottom right. If you want I'll photo a packet for you.

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## stroller

Red ants?
Like these which happily trail across my upstairs house?

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## stroller

They collect their dead comrades:


They are making way for one of the workers carrying a corpse:

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## stroller

Jeez, I almost fell off the balcony taking these pics!

Here some of our ducklings:

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## stroller

Another strange neighbour gracing us with its presence, "Gai Din":

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## stroller

While sorting through my vids I found anothr one.
Which animal is hiding here?


Yeas, a Maleng Mah!


Devouring a Butterfly:

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## Curious George

> Another strange neighbour gracing us with its presence, "Gai Din":


Great photo of this Lantern Bug, Tree Hopper. I never saw this before, so had to look it up.

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## stroller

I knew chickens can fly, but this is the first time I've seen them climbing our cotton tree and picking bugs from it:


Hehe, it's taken a while, but this has finally become a century thread!

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## friscofrankie

Second one in as many weeks in my house.  First one was in the middle of the room hangin' out at 3:00 AM right in my path from the stairs to the kitchen.  This guy was hidin' between the screen and back door, neither survived.

The thickness of the tail and relative smallness of the claws indicate this guy is venomous.  Read up on 'em and it is stated that the scorpions in Thailand are not deadly but some do pack a punch.  Think is one of them.

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## friscofrankie

This guy reminds me a cartoon character, fearless fly.  he was about 1 1/2 inches long

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## stroller

A moth, I think, a large one:

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