Vipera Berus 2

Today was cloudy, raining and even windy, but I decided to take my bag and go have a walk around anyway, looking for reptiles, salamanders or others... After 30 minutes of walk the sun finally appeared for 15 minutes , I made a stop to take a drink and this Viper passed between my legs, lucky again! Beautiful color, totally unified, it was so calm and quiet, didn't tried to bite me and no aggressive behavior, a real model, and very patient... Is the first time I make pictures with such clouds so it took me a while to make the good settings... I hope the result is good!

Attack?

Beautiful color, and almost unified

As you can see, in this period of the year the vegetation is very dense, so it is harder to see them in the biotopes

Vipera Aspis Atra & Berus Melanistic

 Here is a variety of color that can be found in some snake species but also in all nature, the melanistic ones! The black is dominant in the mixture of colors, many Vipers and also Colubridae adapt themselves in high altitudes to receive faster the effects of the sun, that is primordial in their lives. Not all places have this kind of populations in their biotopes, and actually I have found only the Vipera Aspis Atra and Berus with the melanistic aspect, but there is many others like the Natrix Natrix, Vipera Nikolskii, Vipera Seoani and more... Some are totally black, even the eye, but the first pictures above show a specimen with high concentration of black but not 100%, the colors are interesting, with some red on the sides... The second pictures show the Vipera Berus, with only a light color on the bottom and the red eye, this specimen was pregnant...

VIPERA ASPIS ATRA 

We can notice the white line on the side of this one, typical in the Aspis Atra

The patterns are very hard to see with the domination of black

VIPERA BERUS

Bad frame because of the aggressiveness of the specimen, non-stop moving

We can notice here the light color above

Philodryas Chamissonis

! ! ! NON-EUROPEAN SPECIE ! ! !

I recently visited Chile, and when having a walk in the countryside of the Bio-Bio (near Concepcion), this little snake was on the way... Is a venomous snake but its bite is not fatal, this one was a juvenile and don't even tried to bite me or so. It is oviparous and can reach 1,60m and is very ''popular'' in Chile. This is a juvenile one, you can see it with its size. I really like the color it has, unfortunately I haven't seen any adult form, this could be the opportunity to go back there and make a better research!

Yes, very SMALL :)

I had many problems with my camera that day, and the snake wanted to escape all time, was impossible to have it quiet, this is why the frame is so bad etc...

Vipera Ursinii

This little Viper lives in 2 places in France, where we meet people who specially work at its protection, building biotopes etc... It menaced of extinction and there's probably 30 of its specie no more left in France. The venom is by far the most non dangerous one in the Vipera species, its a very small snake, this one is an adult and is 45cm long. The colors and patterns are absolutely beautiful. It was very fast, aggressive and hyperactive, ''jumping'' in front of us to attack, absolutely no fear observed in its comportment. I would like to specially thank my friend Stéphane for making those pictures possible. I never post pictures of snake i haven't find by myself otherwise but for this one is the exception! I hope he makes a blog soon, he is the one who introduced me into this fascinating world and has a picture collection of the most beautiful Vipers Aspis and more snakes you can find in Swiss.

Tongue out 

Portrait

Biotope 

Molt but... no snake around...

Vipera Berus 1

Awesome day spent in some biotopes I've been almost... 6 times and found absolutely NOTHING, this time I went again.. a little desperate and finally I found the specie I was looking for, the ''Vipera Berus'', very present in all europe, I found this one in the last spot you can find it in the Swiss Alps. Its got venom like the other vipers, and as I read about it, pretty more dangerous than the Aspis species. I found other Berus but always the melanistic ones, that I will post later with an article about the melanistic snakes. This one is young almost 25-30cm, you can see the difference with the aspis with its size, the nose, patterns and colors that are typical of the Berus. I let you compare with my precedent article about the Aspis Atra. Here are the pictures, enjoy it ! thanks for having a look.

PURE LUCK for that angle

The patterns are very different than the Aspis

You can see the color and also the nose.

Another awesome posture

Portrait

PLEASE, remember that it is a lot of time spend to find those reptiles, many hours of work, search, this is why those pictures are reserved and copyrighted, I have no problem in the use of them, but please write other an email at : g.bovey@hotmail.com before do anything.

! ! ! THANK YOU ! ! ! 

Natrix Natrix simulating its own death

Last saturday I went in a new biotope to look for some reptiles, frogs, and pictures to take, i was happy cause around 10am I found 2 young Natrix Natrix taking the sun near the water. And finally happened the funny defense trick they do sometimes... Simulation of death as you can see here above:

definitely looks like dead, no moves, nothing...

Closer view of the head...

10 seconds after and a little more far, it closes the mouth and looks around ;) 

Awesome view of the mouth.

Natrix Natrix

Here is another colubridae that can be found in all europe near water in sunny exposed places, it is totally inoffensive and even no biting risk from it. Its length is approx. 1m50 max., its defense is... pretty disgusting, it will secrete a strong smelly liquid from the anal glands, breath very strong, and even simulate its own death! Yes, dead body, mouth open, tongue out... to discourage the predator or so...

It eats frogs, fishes, lizards and little mouses. It can easily swim in water and hide in case of danger. As many snakes, if you encounter one, its first reaction will be to escape. Btw, if you catch one, good luck with the smell ! ;)

You can clearly see the ''necklace'' it has, that is typical of the specie