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By Tsai Wen-ju
and Esme Yeh /
Staff reporter, with staff writer
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all.
Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes.
Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling.
Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the number of snakes captured fluctuates every year and that the data still need to be further explored.
The data do not specify where in the district the snakes were found or the circumstances of their capture, he said, highlighting the need for more detailed records to enable further analysis.
Data from the bureau showed that in 2024, 5,967 snakes of 20 different species were captured in Tainan, of which cobras were the most numerous of the six major venomous snakes at 1,319, followed by many-banded kraits at 522, brown-spotted pit vipers at 277 and bamboo vipers at 154.
Of the 154 bamboo vipers, 84 were captured in Sinhua District, followed by 17 caught in Guanmiao District (關廟), while other districts only had single-digit or zero catches, the data showed.
From January to August last year, 52 bamboo vipers were caught in the city and up to 27 of them were captured in Sinhua District, accounting for more than half, followed by Guanmiao District’s eight catches, it shows.
An adult bamboo viper, or Trimeresurus stejnegeri, can reach 90cm in length. The snake species features a bright green body, with a white line along the belly and a brick-red tail.
Most bamboo vipers in Taiwan are distributed across mountainous areas, cultivated land, bamboo groves or forests at an elevation of up to 1,500m, preferring to inhabit trees near ponds or ditches.
They are highly aggressive and often active at night.
Given its large population and broad distribution, the bamboo viper has become one of the most commonly seen venomous snake species in Taiwan.
