How strong is the venom of the Chinese cobra?

The Chinese cobra is commonly known as "rice shovel head" in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hong Kong, China, and is called "rice spoon qian", "rice spoon gun" and "swollen-neck snake" in Taiwan, China. It belongs to the family Elapidae and is distributed in southern China, Taiwan, China and the Indochinese Peninsula at low to medium altitudes. It is a large front-fanged venomous snake. Its body color is generally blackish brown or dark brown, with or without thin white horizontal stripes on the back. The total body length of an adult snake is 1.5 m—2 m.

Living habits of the Chinese cobra

The Chinese cobra has a wide diet, feeding mainly on frogs and snakes, followed by birds and rodents, and also eating lizards, loaches, eels and other small fish. In Taiwan, China, this snake has been observed to feed mainly on birds and rodents, and it also goes to the water's edge to feed on water snakes and loaches. It emerges from hibernation around May each year and enters winter dormancy in November.

The Chinese cobra is oviparous, usually mating from May to June and laying eggs from July to August, with 7 to 19 eggs at a time. The eggs are 42 to 54 mm in long diameter and 26 to 31 mm in short diameter. The incubation period is 1.5 months to 2 months, and the newly hatched young snake has a total length of about 0.2 m.

Is the Chinese cobra's venom strong?

The Chinese cobra's venom is very strong. The Zhoushan cobra belongs to the grooved-fang type of venomous snake, with a large venom yield, strong toxicity, a wide range of injuries and serious harm. It secretes a mixed venom with neurotoxic and hemotoxic effects. If a bite is not treated promptly, it can be life-threatening.

Distribution range of the Chinese cobra

The Chinese cobra is distributed in Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China and Taiwan, China, as well as the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Vietnam.