2010 Venomous Snakes in the Field (many, many photos)

I have just recently joined this forum and it has rapidly become the best 'venomous-keeping forum', in my eyes. I've seen very many photos of great looking animals and enclosures and read a lot of very useful information on captive care (and not only) of venomous snakes.
Unfortunately, I am not at home at the moment and I can't take any photos of my animals and don't have any good photos of them with me. Therefore, I would at least want to share some more photos of snakes, taken in the field (which I always have with me).

2010 was a very nice year for me and gave me a lot of opportunities to travel in several countries and see several nice species of venomous snakes. Bellow is a (rather large) selection of photos taken of almost all the venomous snake taxa I have encountered on the field this year. As I've already posted pictures of Vipera ursinii rakosiensis on this forum (see: http://www.venomland.net/photography-f19/vipera-ursinii-rakosiensis-close-ups-first-play-with-a-macro-lens-t3295.htm) I will not post them again on this thread. Besides what you can see in the pictures, I've also found Vipera ammodytes meridionalis (in Greece) and Malpolon insignitus (in Greece and Tunisia) but was not able to photograph them... Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos and I apologize if there are too many of them...

1. Vipera berus berus, Common Adder:


Adult male - Northern Carpathians, Romania, April 2010.


Adult male - Northern Carpathians, Romania, April 2010.


Adult melanistic male - Northern Carpathians, Romania, April 2010.


Adult male - Northern Carpathians, Romania, April 2010.


An old friend, known since 2007: Adult melanistic and first time gravid female - Northern Carpathians, Romania, August 2010.


An old friend, known since 2007: Adult melanistic and first time gravid female - Northern Carpathians, Romania, August 2010.


2.Vipera (berus) nikolskii, Nikolsky's viper:


Adult melanistic male in habitat, near Iasi, Romania - April 2010.


Adult zig-zag male in habitat, near Iasi, Romania - April 2010.


Small juvenile with big mouse in its belly, near Iasi, Romania - June 2010.


Adult zig-zag male, near Iasi, Romania - April 2010.


Very large (Total Length was 80 cm) female, near Iasi, Romania - May 2010.


3.Vipera ursinii moldavica, Moldavian Meadow Viper:


Adult male, near Iasi, Romania - April 2010


Adult male in habitat, near Iasi, Romania - April 2010


Adult specimen, Danube Delta, Romania - May 2010


Adult gravid female in habitat (exactly where it was found), Danube Delta, Romania - August 2010


4. Vipera ammodytes montandoni, Dobrudjan/Bulgarian Nose-Horned Viper:


Adult male, Macin Mountains, Romania (terra typica for the subspecies) - April 2010


Adult male, Macin Mountains, Romania (terra typica for the subspecies) - April 2010


Adult female, Macin Mountains, Romania (terra typica for the subspecies) - April 2010


Adult female, Macin Mountains, Romania (terra typica for the subspecies) - April 2010


5.Vipera aspis francisciredi, Italian Asp Viper:


Adult female, near Pisa, Italy - April 2010


Adult female, near Pisa, Italy - April 2010


Adult female, near Pisa, Italy - April 2010


Adult female, near Pisa, Italy - April 2010


6.Vipera seoanei seoanei, Iberian Adder:


Juvenile specimen, Vigo, Spain - October 2010.


7. Montivipera xanthina, Ottoman Viper:


Juvenile specimen in small oak, as found, N-E Greece - May 2010


Adult male, N-E Greece - May 2010


Adult male, N-E Greece - May 2010


Adult male, N-E Greece - May 2010


8. Cerastes c. cerastes, Desert Horned Viper:


Adult male, as found, central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult female, as found, central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult female in habitat, as found, central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult female in motion, in habitat, central Tunisia - September 2010


9.Naja h. haje, Egyptian Cobra:


Me, in the moment of capturing my first cobra... probably the best moment for me in 2010...west-central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult (190 cm total length; tail not intact) specimen, west-central Tunisia - September 2010.


Adult (190 cm total length; tail not intact) specimen, west-central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult (190 cm total length; tail not intact) specimen, west-central Tunisia - September 2010


Adult (190 cm total length; tail not intact) specimen, west-central Tunisia - September 2010


Cristina (my wife) taking pictures of the cobra and me taking pictures of here and the cobra, west-central Tunisia - September 2010


And one last shot of me and the cobra

very very nice photos Alex!

it seem that you have made nice trips to nice locations to find snakes! your photography is great! thank you for sharing! keep these coming if you have more!

Wow, very nice !

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Hey, this is one of my favourite topics over here, I think... Awesome! Keep traveling man, I'm so jealous! :-) I'm in total love with the Viper pics...
Regards,
Maciej

Hello Alexandru,

these are definitely NOT too many photos.
Congratulations and thank you. If you post more of them - welcome!

I know what it is like to meet "old friends" when you work out in the field. I have a number of such old friends, 2 of them male V. ammodytes that I "visit" each year for 21 years now. A deep joy again each year.

Keep on and good luck,
Rainer

These photos are amazing! I would really like to see more photos of Vipera spp.

Thank you all for your kind comments !

Rainer Fesser wrote:

Hello Alexandru,

these are definitely NOT too many photos.
Congratulations and thank you. If you post more of them - welcome!

I know what it is like to meet "old friends" when you work out in the field. I have a number of such old friends, 2 of them male V. ammodytes that I "visit" each year for 21 years now. A deep joy again each year.

Keep on and good luck,
Rainer

That has to be a very special feeling... to literally know a wild snake for so long... How much did they move in the time you've known them ? If they are males, they probably move quite a bit at least during spring, right ?

Hi Alexandru,

that IS a very special feeling.
I saw these particular 2 males for the first time in 1989 and again each spring when I went to that place. They already were quite big adults in 1989. Others that I protocolled from that year on have dissappeared over the years. I hope these 2 will still be there next spring. The summer-place of one of these males is 4,3 km away from the den. You can see some photos of the place and animals at this link:
http://www.venomland.net/search.forum?search_id=140498244&search_current=Rainer+Fesser&start=225
Update for that post: These 2 males were still alive in spring 2010, they are about 85-90cm. long now.
The place is in front of a hibernaculum of about 50 V. ammodytes in northern Croatia. On a good day I can stand or sit there with all these snakes around me, combat-fighting, mating, crawling over my feet and sometimes even fighting on my feet.

I´m already looking forward to next spring.

Cheers,
Rainer

Hello Alexandru,

got the wrong link in my previous post. This one will work.

http://www.venomland.net/fieldworks-herptrips-f17/vipera-aspis-in-switzerland-near-neuchatel-lake-t861.htm#4882

Wow nice finds. That cobra sure rear's up high!

Quote :

Hi Alexandru,

that IS a very special feeling.
I saw these particular 2 males for the first time in 1989 and again each spring when I went to that place. They already were quite big adults in 1989. Others that I protocolled from that year on have dissappeared over the years. I hope these 2 will still be there next spring. The summer-place of one of these males is 4,3 km away from the den. You can see some photos of the place and animals at this link:
http://www.venomland.net/search.forum?search_id=140498244&search_current=Rainer+Fesser&start=225
Update for that post: These 2 males were still alive in spring 2010, they are about 85-90cm. long now.
The place is in front of a hibernaculum of about 50 V. ammodytes in northern Croatia. On a good day I can stand or sit there with all these snakes around me, combat-fighting, mating, crawling over my feet and sometimes even fighting on my feet.

I´m already looking forward to next spring.

Cheers,
Rainer

I've read your post from the link you gave me (the good one, not the one quoted here ). It is very interesting for me. I've been doing similar work with a population of Vipera berus for quite some years now. An interesting thing in "my" adder population is that the reproductive female have changed their summer habitat since a few years ago (so females which usually stayed in one habitat when they were gravid have moved to a different one, located some hundreds of meter away from the initial one). I"m also working with a population of V. ammodytes montandoni but, because most of my trips to their habitat have been in the summer, I haven't yet learned their spring habits very well. 85-90 cm is larger than all the vipers I've ever caught - and I have caught a few hundred vipers so far (although I did not measure the large Montivipera xanthina I've caught this spring). The V. a. montandoni in Romania are quite small with the longest specimen I've caught being a 68 cm male (my total sample size would be somewhere around 100 specimens). Many of them feed on invertebrate prey (especially centipedes) in "my" population so I'm guessing that would be an explanation. The longest V. a. ammodytes I've seen were two males of 78 and 79 cm, total length but I know there surely are larger specimens in Romania. The longest viper I've measured was a female Vipera (berus) nikolskii of 80cm total length.
I also find very interesting the fact that the summer habitats of "your" males are so far away from the den. Lets just hope that the "migration corridor" will not be destroyed and that you will be able to see your old friends in the following years as well !

As this taxon has not been covered in my previous photos on this post and as I hope you'll like them, here are some photos of V. a. ammodytes from south-western Romania, taken the last time I've visited those habitats in May 2008:


Adult female


Adult female


Adult female


Adult female


Adult female


Adult female


Adult female


Another adult female


Another adult female


Another adult female


Adult male (78 cm long)


Adult male (78 cm long)


Adult male (78 cm long)


Another adult male (79 cm long)


Another adult male (79 cm long)


Another adult male (79 cm long)


Another adult male (79 cm long)

Alex

A stunning set of images thank you for taking the time to post them.

Regards

Graeme

Graeme Skinner wrote:

Alex

A stunning set of images thank you for taking the time to post them.

Regards

Graeme

Thank you ! I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Great post. I love the assortment of Vipera shots. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Amazing snakes and pictures , Alex. Congratulations !!!

Hello Alexandru,

just under 80cm. is a very good size for V. ammodytes in nature. Especially if you take into account that specimens in northern populations usually can get bigger than those in southern ones.
The second male (79cm.) on your photos has a special pattern that can be found only very rarely in european V. ammodytes.

What you found in "your" V. berus corresponds to my data about V. a. ammodytes (2 populations in their northern range, it is different in warmer areas). Males and females in these populations have their summer territories and use special dens for mass.hibernation (in one Slovenian population about 200 in one den). Gravid females move to special places that are very sunny and warm after about half of their pregnancy. In these places there are usually 2 or 3 of them close together, sunbasking even when all other V. amm. are in their hiding-places. Most females (in the Slovenian population that I checked more closely) moved to the hibernaculum in late September and gave birth in front of it in the first 2 weeks of October. A short time after that hibernation starts in that place.
The male that moves more than 4km. between summer-habitat and hibernaculum is the most extreme one that I ever found. It has to move through fields, cross a creek and a road. Most other individuals that I could find in summer had their summer-places much closer to the den.

Cheers,
Rainer

Excuse me for interupting here in the discussion, but this is an excellent series of photographs, Mr. Strugariu. Thank you for starting the Thread- and posting your photography work. Also, a word of Thanks to Mr. Fesser for your always interesting contributions. Sincerely, Jon Davidson .

Alex,

Fantastic work! Thanks for posting and congratulations on your first cobra. May there be many more

@ Mr. Fesser: Again, very interesting observations ! Thank you for sharing them. I am not aware of any publications about this, have you published any of your data ? If you did, I would be very happy to read them... I keep my fingers crossed for "your" male V. a. ammodytes which crosses those 4 km of dangerous terrain twice every year...
From my preliminary observations on V. a. montandoni at its northernmost population, I would say that both sexes hibernate together (I don't know the exact hibernation spots though) on a single south facing slope. Males shed relatively at the same time in mid April (that was the case this year). This slope is full of nice rocky outcrops and small trees (mostly small oak species). Reproduction takes place there too. Gravid females remain on that slope during the entire summer as well. Males move to different slopes and different microhabitats (more humid, more vegetation, less rocks) which have an eastern or south-eastern exposure. I've observed parturition from mid August to early October.

@everyone else: thank you very much once again for your nice comments; I'm glad you enjoyed my photos.

Also, to complete the list of venomous snake taxa which I've photographed in the field, here are three more species which I found in Tunisia in September 2009:


Malpolon insignitus, Eastern Montpellier Snake:


Juvenile # 1


Juvenile # 1


Juvenile # 2


Juvenile #2


Psammophis shokari, Shokari Sand Racer:


Adult specimen


Adult specimen


Adult specimen


Same adult specimen


Daboia (mauritanica) deserti, Desert viper:


Immature specimen


Immature specimen


Same immature specimen

Very nice, especially the V. ammodytes. Did you take the photos with your kit lens or did you get a macro?

-Martti

Martti Niskanen wrote:

Very nice, especially the V. ammodytes. Did you take the photos with your kit lens or did you get a macro?

-Martti

Thanks, Martti ! The photos of V. a. ammodytes were taken in 2008 with a compact camera (Panasonic Lumix FZ 7). The other pictures were taken with my Canon EOS 500D and with the Canon 17-85 mm lens. Very few of them might have been taken with the "kit lens" (18-55mm; some of the close-ups). I still haven't bought a macro lens... I'm waiting until I find a second hand one for half the price... I played with a 100mm macro lens on one occasion and you can see the results: http://www.venomland.net/t3295-vipera-ursinii-rakosiensis-close-ups-first-play-with-a-macro-lens .

Hello Alexandru,

very nice photos again. Malpolon #2 has an extremely bold pattern for a Tunisian one, even for a juvenile. Beautiful.
You can call me Mr. Fesser or Rainer, it´s your choice. Accordingly I´ll call you Mr. Strugariu or Alexandru.
It sounds like you have a similar approach to animals as I have.

I found behaviour similar to "your" montandoni in a population of V. a. ammod.in Slovenia though the females did not stay that close to the den. Also at "my" place in Croatia the females don´t move as far as the males and their summer-places are not as strictly held as in most males. But in these 2 places there are only very few spots that provide suitable summer-habitat close to the den. Close to the den in Croatia there is dense forest uphill and a road, a creek, cornfields and open meadows downhill. Most summer-places are above the forest or behind the fields, a few are along the road. This is where you can quite frequently find pregnant females in late summer. In the years when they are not gravid (they have a 2-year-cycle), these females inhabit places that are further away from the den.

I did not publish this (yet) as imo my data are not sufficient yet.

Best wishes,
Rainer