Although it looks very ferocious, this snake from Vietnam is not poisonous and is very useful for farmers.

One of the water snake species with a wide distribution from India, Bangladesh to Southeast Asia including Vietnam is the cobra (in Vietnam, other names are dragon snake, striped melon snake), scientific name Coelognathus radiata.

They often hide in areas with many trees, bushes, in abandoned rat holes and even in bushes and on roofs. The length of the snake when mature is up to 2 m. Its identifying feature is that the snake’s eyes have three small black lines, two running obliquely along the upper edge, one line crossing the temple, the body has 4 black lines running from the nape of the neck downwards. On more than half of the body, the two large middle lines run continuously, the two lateral lines are smaller and interrupted.

Cobras often display aggressive behavior when they feel threatened. They raise a third of their body forward off the ground, open their mouth wide to scare the enemy, try to expand the skin on their neck, and peck at the opponent.

With the above personality, many people fear that the cobra is poisonous, but this species is not. Therefore, in the event of a snake bite, the victim can treat it at home without going to a medical center, but must be thoroughly disinfected to avoid contagion.

This snake can eat lizards, frogs, fish or young birds, and its main food is mice. Especially, this snake’s ability to hunt mice is very skillful, so it is a very useful animal for farmers, helping to protect crops and preventing rats from biting and destroying crops.