Bitis rubida

A gravid female Bitis rubida seen in Western Cape recently.
It was photographed by a ranger from the reserve and released.

[img] Bitis rubida Img_4910

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[img] Bitis rubida Img_4911

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Guest

Rare to see! Awesome lil' guy.

Wow, Rob its not something one sees everyday!

Do you know what size she was?

Fantastic. Especially nice to see observations of specimens that aren't collected.

Henco Im not sure how big she was but she looks like a large adult. Maybe 45cm? But Im guessing.

Martti it really is lovely to see them, this girl was heavily gravid as you can see, it wouldve been nice to let her give birth and see the babies, but she was left to do it on her own Smile

Nice. Definitely an uncommonly seen species. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting about the colour of the snake is that the ground it is on does not resemble the colour of the snake.
In all the caudalis I've found, every specimen resembles the area they come from. Even the just the microhabitat!

I know this is not a caudalis, but even cornuta tends to "mimic" the area!

H

Hi Rob

Fantastic speciemen, let's he she produces some nice and healthy offspring !! Very Happy

Thanks for sharing these pics with us here

Best whishes
Marco

Yeah that's true Henco.
I'm very sure that the snake was not photographed where it was found (crossing a road on a game drive), these pics were taken when the snake was released.
Although that would raise another concern, was it released in a spot significantly different to where it was found.

Marco if only! Smile

Hi all.

Just seen that these are my photos, Rob probably got it from my brother to help with the ID of it. Yes, the photos were taken with release. It was found around the lodge area and was released about 500m from the place where I found it. The area was very similar to the area where it was found.

Good to see my photos are getting places Wink

Thanks for that information Tracey.
Does the ground colour differ at all across that area?

That part of the world is an amazing place.

never heard of thisspicies before...
butt what a beautyfull snake!!!

thanks for sharing Rob Very Happy

Yes, Henco, the colour differs, but it is a large area and you have to move quite far between the different ground colours. The snake might have came from a different ground colour to the lodge area (maybe for food or something) where I found it, because for the two and a half years I was there, I only saw two or three of them. This one was the only one I saw around the lodge area. When I find any snake I do not like to move it too far from the original place, just away from the area where someone might harm it.

Tracey Price wrote:: Yes, Henco, the colour differs, but it is a large area and you have to move quite far between the different ground colours. The snake might have came from a different ground colour to the lodge area (maybe for food or something) where I found it, because for the two and a half years I was there, I only saw two or three of them. This one was the only one I saw around the lodge area. When I find any snake I do not like to move it too far from the original place, just away from the area where someone might harm it.

That is the right mentality.

Thanks for letting Rob share these pics.

Henco

» Bitis rubida lock-up
» Some bitis
» Bitis gabonica or Bitis rhinoceros?
» Bitis atropos and Bitis cornuta
» Some of my Bitis.