The marsh viper has several names - chain viper and Russell's viper. Is this snake dangerous?
It belongs to the viper family. The marsh viper gained fame thanks to Conan Doyle's story "The Speckled Band", in which this snake fatally bit a young woman and then was about to sting a second one. The writer talks about this snake as one of the most dangerous in the world. It is worth noting that the English author was completely right. The marsh viper is actually the most common venomous snake.
Marsh viper (Vipera russellii).
Snake lifestyle
The steppe viper leads a terrestrial lifestyle, preferring dry and sunny places.
It can also crawl into trees: there are cases when they were found at a height of four meters. In addition, the reptile swims well. The steppe viper is a diurnal snake. In spring and autumn, it can most often be seen in the middle of the day. In summer, it is active in the morning and evening, and during hot hours it sits out in shelters.
Nutritional Features
The diet of the steppe viper is radically different from the diet of its closest relatives. It feeds not on small mammals and lizards, but, strangely enough, on insects! In the summer, she hunts almost exclusively orthoptera - locusts, grasshoppers, grasshoppers, which she catches in large quantities.
In the spring, when there are no adult insects yet, steppe vipers have no choice but to try to hunt small rodents, lizards and tailless amphibians. However, luck does not always smile on them: most often their stomachs remain empty, because catching such prey is not an easy task for them. Sometimes they include in their diet other food available to them: spiders, chicks of larks, buntings and other small birds, bird eggs. It happens that frogs become their prey.
After the victim is captured, the vipers usually swallow it alive without using their poisonous apparatus. They digest food from two to four days.
Reproduction
The mating season for steppe vipers occurs in early to mid-April. At this time, males are actively looking for females. Like their relatives, this species often engages in mating games: one can often find “balls” of snakes of 6-8 individuals - usually one female and several competing males attracted by her. Males also organize ritual fights – the so-called “dances”.
After the mating period, males, and especially females, rest for a long time in open places, basking in the sun. At this time, they often catch the eye of a person.
Pregnancy of the steppe viper lasts from 90 to 130 days. The female gives birth to live young; there can be a lot of them in one litter - up to 28, but usually 5-6. The length of newborn vipers is 12-18 cm. They feed mainly on various insects. Soon after birth, they molt (by the way, adults molt 3 times a year). In the third year of life, they reach a length of 30-35 cm and can already bear offspring.
Wintering
These snakes hibernate alone or in small groups in cracks in the soil, in rodent burrows, in voids between stones and other suitable shelters.
It is interesting that the steppe viper in its distribution areas leaves for wintering later than all other reptiles, and in the spring it appears earlier than others - in the south of its range already at the end of February - beginning of March. It can be found even in winter, during the thaw, when the temperature rises to + 4° C.
Enemies of the steppe viper
When meeting a person or other possible danger, the reptile tries to retreat as quickly as possible. But since she is quite slow, she does not always manage to crawl away. In this case, she actively defends herself, raising her head on an S-shaped curved neck, which at any moment the head can “throw” towards the enemy with lightning speed. And she has enough enemies: these are owls, steppe eagles, harriers, black storks, hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, wild boars, steppe ferrets. But, like many other representatives of the fauna, its most serious enemy is man. People catch reptiles in order to extract snake venom, and often kill, simply because of their ignorance, any snake they meet along the way - many vipers die only because of superstitious fears of snakes.
In recent years, the number of the steppe viper has been noticeably declining. This happens due to the plowing of the steppes, construction and reclamation work, as well as direct destruction by humans.
Ephas, or sandy ephas (lat. Echis carinatus)
In addition to being one of the Big Four, sand ephs are ranked third in the Top 10 Most Dangerous Snakes due to their irritable, aggressive nature and deadly venom. And also their habitat is in close proximity to people. They are nocturnal and can be seen in the late evening in arid areas and dry savannas north of the equator, including Africa, Arabia, Southwest Asia and India, as well as Sri Lanka. They strike very quickly, releasing hemotoxin, a poison that destroys red blood cells and causes damage to tissues and organs. Mortality rates from these bites are extremely high. Although the antidote is quite effective along with medical treatment, sand ephs are believed to be responsible for a large number of human deaths.
Reproduction and offspring
Sexual maturity in vipers occurs at the age of 4-5 years. They breed annually, but in the northern parts of the range with a short summer, females give birth every other year. The mating season for snakes begins in May and lasts 15-20 days. At this time, vipers can be seen not only in pairs, but also in coiled balls of 10 or more individuals. Males track females by smell and, trying to win the favor of a partner, arrange real duels. This is a kind of ritual dance that is performed in compliance with certain rules.
The opponents, standing in front of each other, raise their heads and shake them before making a throw. Colliding their bodies and intertwining their necks in a fight, each of them strives to pin the enemy to the ground and turn him onto his back. Interestingly, damaging bites are almost never delivered in this confrontation. The winner gets the right to mate, and this is where his mission ends. The fertilized female bears the cubs alone: at the end of the mating season, vipers lead a solitary lifestyle, no longer meeting in pairs or groups.
Vipera berus are ovoviviparous snakes; they do not lay eggs, and the process of development of eggs, as well as the hatching of cubs from them, occurs in the womb of the female. Depending on the size of the expectant mother and living conditions, the number of eggs in the oviducts can be from 10 to 20. However, offspring do not appear from all developing eggs. Sometimes resorption (resorption) of part of the embryos occurs, so most often 8-12 baby snakes are born. This happens approximately 90 days after mating, from mid-July to September. Fingerlings are born about 16 cm long and are otherwise copies of their parents.
Within a few hours, at the latest - after 2-3 days, young snakes begin to molt. Until this time, they stay close to the place of birth, but immediately after changing their scales they crawl away in search of food. For the rest of the summer and autumn, the young grow actively, feeding on insects and worms, and by winter, together with adult vipers, they find shelter from the approaching cold.
Black Mamba
The black mamba (lat. Dendroaspis polylepis) is the most poisonous snake of the African continent. It can be found in savannas and woodlands of Angola, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, etc. In addition, this snake has a very bad reputation. It is considered the fastest (speeds up to 20 km/h) and aggressive snake in Africa.
flickr/guenterleitenbauer
Its length can be about 2.4–3 m, and some specimens grow up to 4.5 m in length. It received this name because of its black mouth, which terrifies anyone who meets on its way. Having bitten once, the mamba tends to bite several more times. Being the owner of such speed, the mamba often chases its prey rather than sitting in ambush. In one bite, the mamba injects up to 400 mg of poison. The lethal dose for an adult is about 10-15 mg. Its poison causes paralysis and death.
Marsh viper
Russell's viper, chained, or swamp viper is considered the most dangerous of the entire family. This species is found over vast areas of Central and Southeast Asia. The average length of this snake is 1.2 m, but occasionally there are individuals whose size exceeds one and a half meters.
The head has a somewhat flattened triangular shape. Large eyes dotted with golden veins. Large fangs, reaching 1.6 cm, are a serious threat and excellent protection for the reptile. The back is rough, covered with scales, the belly is smooth.
The body color of the marsh viper is dominated by gray-brown or dirty yellow tones. The back and sides are decorated with rich dark brown spots surrounded by a black ring with a bright yellow or white outer rim. There can be up to 25-30 such elements on the back, increasing as the snake grows. The number of spots on the sides may vary, sometimes they merge into a solid line. There are also dark V-shaped streaks on the sides of the head.
Habitat of the common viper
The geographical distribution of the common viper is very extensive. On the territory of the Eurasian continent it is distributed from Sakhalin, the northern part of Korea, the northeastern regions of China to the north of Portugal and Spain. Beyond the Arctic Circle, the viper has settled on the territory of the Lapland Nature Reserve, located in the Murmansk region; it also lives in the Barents Sea area. This reptile can also be found in western Siberia and Transbaikalia.
The common viper is unique in that it can live in northern latitudes with a fairly cool climate, which is quite alien to other snakes. The snake does not bypass various mountain ranges, for example, the Alps. As for our country, we can generally say that the viper on Russian territory lives in the central zone: from the Arctic to the southernmost steppe regions. The reptile's distribution is quite heterogeneous: in some areas it is extremely rare, in others its density is high.
The common viper often inhabits places where there is a contrast between day and night air temperatures. The snake will definitely appreciate areas with high humidity: mossy wetlands; coastal zones of rivers and other bodies of water; forest clearings; felling sites; steppe expanses with dry grass.
The viper prefers bushes and shallow crevices under stones, which serve both as a refuge and as protection from climatic changes. In general, vipers are considered sedentary, but sometimes they migrate to new habitats, crawling up to five kilometers. Even the water element is not a barrier for them; snakes can easily swim long distances. Common vipers do not avoid human settlements and are often found in parks, garden plots, cultivated fields, and can settle in basements and all kinds of abandoned, destroyed or unfinished buildings.
Nutrition
The common viper feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents, amphibians, lizards, and destroys bird nests located on the ground. The ratio of different feeds may vary depending on availability at a given time and in a given area. Thus, during the observation of vipers in the Netherlands, it was revealed that they prefer grass and sharp-faced frogs, as well as viviparous lizards. In other regions, the diet may be dominated by gray and forest voles, shrews, spindles, and chicks of small passerine birds. Young snakes catch insects - locusts, beetles, and less often caterpillars, ants, slugs and earthworms.
Taipan (lat. Oxyuranus scutellatus)
The snake, found primarily on the island of New Guinea and the coastal regions of northern and southern Australia, is considered one of the most aggressive snakes. And the taipan's venom is the most toxic. Its venom contains a powerful cocktail of toxins that paralyze the nerves of the heart, lungs and diaphragm, resulting in the suffocation of the victim, as well as a powerful myotoxin that destroys muscle tissue, resulting in severe bleeding.
Lifestyle
Adult female, Scotland
Life expectancy can reach 15, and according to some sources, 30 years. However, observations in Sweden indicate that snakes rarely survive beyond two or three years of breeding, which, taking into account the achievement of sexual maturity, gives an age limit of 5-7 years. The viper quickly adapts to any terrain; in the Swiss Alps it rises to 2600 m above sea level. Habitats are more diverse in the northern and eastern parts of the range, where the snake often colonizes peat bogs, heathlands, cleared mixed forests, the banks of various freshwater bodies of water, wet meadows, field edges, shelterbelts, and dunes. In southern Europe, biotopes are mainly limited to wet depressions in mountainous areas. Distribution is uneven depending on the availability of places suitable for wintering. The saddle, as a rule, does not move further than 60-100 meters. The exception is forced migration to a wintering place; in this case, snakes can move away to a distance of up to 2-5 km. Wintering usually occurs from October-November to March-April (depending on the climate), in the north of the range it lasts up to 9 months, for which the snake chooses a depression in the ground (burrows, crevices, etc.) at a depth of up to 2 meters, where the temperature does not drop below +2… +4 °C. If there is a shortage of such places, several hundred individuals may accumulate in one place, and in the spring they crawl to the surface, which creates the impression of great crowding. Subsequently, the snakes crawl away.
In the summer, it sometimes basks in the sun, but mostly hides under old stumps, in crevices, etc. The snake is not aggressive and, when a person approaches, tries to use its camouflage coloring as much as possible, or crawl away. Only in case of unexpected appearance of a person or upon provocation on his part can she try to bite him
This cautious behavior is explained by the fact that it requires a lot of energy to reproduce venom in conditions of changing temperatures.
It feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents, amphibians and lizards, and destroys bird nests located on the ground. The ratio of different feeds may vary depending on availability at a given time and in a given area. Thus, during the observation of vipers in the Netherlands, it was revealed that they prefer grass and sharp-faced frogs, as well as viviparous lizards. In other regions, the diet may be dominated by gray and forest voles, shrews, spindles, chicks of warblers, pipits and buntings. Young snakes catch insects - locusts, beetles, and, less commonly, butterfly caterpillars, ants, slugs and earthworms.
Key Features
A peculiarity of all vipers is the presence of poisonous glands located in the sinuses behind the upper jaw.
The poison from them enters the bite site through two teeth that are empty inside. These teeth are attached to the rotating maxillary bone.
Usually these fangs are not visible, as they are folded and covered with a special film.
At the moment of attack, the reptile's jaw opens 180 degrees, and its fangs turn in the direction of the blow.
To photograph a snake bite, a photo of the viper must be taken at the moment of the attack. This is beyond the power of a person, but with the help of slow-motion filming on a video camera it is possible.
Due to the fact that the bite of this snake is very dangerous and can even lead to death, you need to know the following precautions:
- You should never touch a viper.
- In the forest where these snakes live, you must wear high, durable boots and thick trousers.
- Before entering thick grass or stepping into a hole, you need to make sure there are no reptiles there.
- When picking mushrooms or berries, you first need to rummage around the grass around you with a stick. The snake will crawl away or hiss.
- You should not move if a viper is crawling nearby. Most likely she will crawl past.
A peculiarity of all vipers is the presence of poisonous glands located in the sinuses behind the upper jaw. The poison from them enters the bite site through two teeth that are empty inside. These teeth are attached to the rotating maxillary bone
Another feature is the ability of the pupil to respond to light by changing its size.
This property is very rare for reptiles and is associated with a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle.
Like all reptiles, the viper loves warmth and light. During the day, she prefers to bask in the sun and remains relatively slow. However, at night, all her energy is directed towards obtaining food.
Viper bite - first aid
What to do if bitten by a viper:
- First of all, immediately after a viper bite, be sure to provide rest to the bitten organ (usually the limbs), securing it with something like a splint or, for example, simply tying your arm in a bent position with a scarf. Limit any active movements to avoid the rapid spread of viper venom throughout the body.
- A viper bite is dangerous and can be fatal to humans, so in any case, regardless of the severity of the victim’s condition, you should call an ambulance!
- By pressing your fingers at the bite site, try to slightly open the wound and suck out the poison. This can be done with your mouth, periodically spitting saliva, but the method is only permissible if there is no damage to the oral mucosa in the form of cracks, scratches or ulcers. You can try to reduce the concentration of poison in the wound with an ordinary glass glass, using it according to the principle of placing medical cups. The venom is sucked out continuously for 15-20 minutes.
- Then the viper bite site should be disinfected with any available means: cologne, vodka, alcohol, iodine, and a clean, lightly pressing bandage should be applied.
- If possible, it is advisable to take an antihistamine tablet to reduce the allergic reaction to the viper venom.
- Take as much liquid as possible - weak tea, water, but avoid coffee: this drink increases blood pressure and increases excitability.
- In case of serious injury, as first aid after a viper bite, a person is given artificial respiration and prolonged cardiac massage.
Sometimes vipers are confused with representatives of the colubrid family - snakes, snakes and copperheads, which often leads to the killing of innocent animals. You can distinguish a poisonous snake from a harmless one by a number of signs.
Boomslang
The venom of the boomslang snake (colubrida family) causes internal bleeding in victims.
Boomslang
About 24 hours after being bitten on the thumb by a boomslang (also called the South African green tree snake), herpetologist Carl Patterson Schmidt died from internal bleeding from the eyes, lungs, kidneys, heart and brain. (Communicated 2022 in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta).
The snake was sent to Schmidt at the Field Museum in Chicago for identification. Like others in the field at the time (1890), Schmidt believed that postjawed snakes such as the boomslang (Dispholidus typus) could not produce a large enough dose of venom to be lethal to humans. They were wrong.
Boomslang, which is found throughout Africa. However, it mainly lives in Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is one of the most venomous so-called posterolateral snakes, according to the University of Michigan Zoological Museum. Such snakes may put their fangs back into their mouths when not in use.
Like other deadly snakes, this one has hemotoxic venom. It causes victims to bleed internally and externally, the museum said.
With an egg-shaped head, huge eyes and a bright green patterned body, the boomslang looks quite attractive. When threatened, the snake inflates its neck to double its size and exposes a brightly colored flap of skin between its scales.
Death from a boomslang bite can be horrific. Here's how Scientific American describes it:
“Victims experience extensive bleeding into the muscles and brain. In addition, blood begins to ooze from all possible orifices, including the gums and nostrils, and even from the smallest cuts. Blood will also begin to enter the body through the victim's feces, urine, saliva and vomit until he dies."
- Habitat: virtually the entire African continent
This is truly one of the most poisonous snakes. Fortunately, there is an antidote to boomslang, if the victim manages to get it in time, of course.
Treatment methods after a snake bite
The effect of viper venom on the human body in most cases ends 2-4 days after the incident. But with severe intoxication, its consequences can be felt even after six months.
In the emergency department, the patient is prescribed a series of tests to assess his general condition and determine clinical and laboratory parameters. The treatment method is determined based on the results:
- general blood test;
- general urinalysis;
- measurements of fibrin degradation products;
- coagulation profile;
- levels of electrolytes, urea, creatinine.
Moderate intoxication requires an ECG, a chest x-ray and a number of additional tests. The patient is regularly monitored for 8 hours after admission. If after this no obvious symptoms of intoxication are recorded, the victim is sent home. This interval is important because the effects of the snake's venom can increase over time.
If there are severe symptoms, the patient is prescribed symptomatic therapy: sedatives for severe nervous excitement, painkillers for pain, vasopressors to eliminate shock. Treatment of a wound from a snake bite is standard, with treatment with antiseptics and regular dressing changes.
Indian krait, or blue bungarus (lat. Bungarus caeruleus)
This snake is known by various names - common krait, Indian krait, or Malayan krait, and is also part of the "Big Four". The blue bungarus is mainly found around India, from Pakistan to the plains of West Bengal, and Sri Lanka. These snakes prefer areas close to water, such as rice paddies and dams. Although this krait often hunts under the cover of darkness, and is not even considered very aggressive, 50% of all its bites result in human death, even with the use of antivenom. The venom of the Indian krait is very neurotoxic, it affects the nervous system and turns it off, as a result of which, most often, the victim falls into a coma or dies from suffocation. Death usually occurs 12-24 hours after the first bite.
Brief characteristics of a poisonous reptile
A distinctive feature of many vipers is their short and thick body. Its greatest length reaches 4 m, and the smallest snake has a body no more than 30 cm long. An adult snake weighs about 16-18 kg.
The photo of the viper shows the shape of the head in the form of a rounded triangle with visible protrusions at the temples.
The eyes are small in size, the pupils are located vertically, and can become narrowed or dilated to fill the entire eye circumference. Due to this, vipers are able to see in the dark as well as during the day.
Not every person knows what a viper snake looks like. Its color can be different, it all depends on the variety.
Vipers, as befits venomous snakes, have fangs for spraying poisonous substances. The size of the teeth reaches up to 4 cm in length. In the closed mouth they close and are covered with fabric in the form of a film.
When a snake attacks or defends itself, its mouth opens 180 degrees, its jaw rotates, and its fangs protrude forward.
When the jaw closes, the muscles around which the poisonous glands are located contract. As a result, the poison spills out.
King Cobra
The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake. It reaches 5.4 m, according to the Natural History Museum in London.
King Cobra
This snake's impressive vision allows it to spot a moving person at a distance of almost 100 m. When threatened, the king cobra uses special ribs and muscles on its neck. By doing this, she inflates her “hood” or skin around her head. These snakes can also lift their heads off the ground by about a third of their body length, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Its glory is not so much in the strength of the poison, but in the quantity injected into the victim. Each bite releases about 7 milliliters of venom. However, the snake usually attacks with three or four bites in quick succession, the Fresno Zoo reports.
Even one bite can kill a person in 15 minutes. An adult elephant - in just a few hours.
- Habitat: India, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
There is a common misconception that the cobra is the most poisonous snake. However, this place of honor is occupied by McCoy's taipan (see below), its poison is 180 times stronger.
Description
Head shields:1. Parietal 2. Frontal3. Supraorbital 4. Internasal5. Intermaxillary 6. Upper labial 7. Nasal 8. Mental9. Apical
A relatively small snake, whose length including the tail usually does not exceed 65 cm. The largest specimens are found in the northern part of the range: for example, snakes more than 90 cm long have been recorded on the Scandinavian Peninsula. In France and Great Britain, the largest specimens reached a length of 80-87 see. Females are slightly larger than males. The weight of an adult viper varies from 50 to 180 g.
The large flattened head with a rounded muzzle is noticeably separated from the body by a short neck. In the upper part of the head there are three large shields, one of which - the frontal - has an almost rectangular shape, elongated along the body and is located in the space between the eyes, the remaining two - the parietal - are directly behind it. Sometimes another small scute is developed between the frontal and parietal scutes. The nasal opening is cut into the lower part of the nasal shield. The vertical pupil, along with the overhanging supraorbital scutes, give the snake an angry appearance, although they have nothing to do with the manifestation of emotions. The apical shield is not divided. There are usually 21 scales around the middle of the body. There are 132-150 abdominal scales in males and 132-158 in females. There are 32-46 pairs of tail scales in males and 23-38 pairs in females.
The color is extremely variable - the main background can be gray, yellowish-brown, brown or reddish with a copper tint. In some areas, up to 50% of the population consists of melanistic black vipers. Most individuals have a contrasting zigzag pattern along the backbone. The belly is gray, grayish-brown or black, sometimes with white spots. The tip of the tail is yellow, orange or red. Juveniles often have a copper-brown back with a zigzag stripe.
Appearance and features
We have already figured out that the dimensions of the viper are small. It has been noticed that larger snakes are found in more northern habitats. The snake's head is quite large, slightly flattened, and has a rounded muzzle. It is equipped with three large scutes: frontal and two parietal. The rectangular frontal scute is located in the area between the eyes, and behind it are the parietal scutes. It happens that between these two types of shields there is another small shield. The nasal shield is equipped with a nasal opening at the bottom.
The viper's eyes are small with pupils located vertically. Slightly drooping eyelids, which are scaly ridges above the eyes, create an angry and embittered image of a reptile, although this has no emotional basis. The bones of the snake's upper jaw are mobile and short; they have one or two tubular poisonous fangs and about four small teeth. The bones located in the palate also have small teeth. The viper's head is clearly separated from its body by a cervical interception.
The snake's body is short and very thick in the middle. It smoothly tapers and turns into a small tail, which is several times smaller than the length of the entire body and has a silhouette reminiscent of a comma. Scales cover the entire body of the reptile, in the middle part of the snake there are 21 of them, on the belly of males there are from 132 to 150 pieces, in females - up to 158, and in the tail of males - from 32 to 46 pairs of scales, in females - from 23 to 38 pairs.
The coloring of the common viper should be given special attention, because it is very diverse and rich in the following shades: brown; black; dark gray; yellowish-beige; silver-white (closer to light gray); brown with creeping olive tones; copper with a reddish tint
The most common and most common tones are gray in males and brown in females. Uniformity in color is not inherent in all specimens; there are more individuals decorated with all kinds of ornaments: a zigzag, well-distinguished pattern; smooth striped pattern; dark spotted color on the sides.
The coloring of a viper is, first of all, an unsurpassed camouflage, which is why it differs in all sorts of shades and variations of patterns, just as the habitats of this common reptile differ.
Lifestyle
Vipers spend their entire lives (and they live twelve to fifteen years) in the same territory. As a rule, the habitat of a single snake occupies from two to four hectares; no more than three individuals can live in this area. In the summer, vipers can move to other places, but never go further than three to four kilometers from their previous shelter. This type of snake is an excellent swimmer, and like snakes, they can easily cross wide rivers, lakes and reservoirs. A viper can only be forced to leave its place by the lack of food or human activity.
With the onset of cold weather (late September - early October), vipers leave for the winter. As a rule, snakes wait out the winter in the same place. Snakes choose abandoned holes of mice, rats or moles as their wintering place. The main condition for shelter is that the temperature must be above three to four degrees Celsius, otherwise the animal will die. Thus, vipers stay in burrows at a depth of fifty centimeters to two meters, where the soil never freezes. Usually snakes spend the winter alone, but there are cases when three to five specimens escape the frost in one mountain. Once a wintering place was discovered, where over two hundred vipers had gathered; apparently this place was the most suitable in this territory, and the snakes were very patient with their neighbors. Sometimes a snake can spend the winter under a haystack, less often in cracks in hard rocks or under stones.
Vipers awaken at the beginning of spring, when not all the snow has melted. In central Russia, the wintering period is approximately two hundred days, in the north two hundred and fifteen (or more, depending on the time of spring). Males are the first to leave their shelters and come to the surface; females and juveniles crawl out around the beginning of April. Vipers feel great at a body temperature of nine to thirty degrees. If it (the temperature) drops below nine or rises above thirty-five degrees, the animal dies. Therefore, the snake is forced to spend the whole day in the shelter, crawling out into the sun several times to bask.
During the day, vipers are inactive, they lie quietly in shelter (rodent burrows, wet places under bushes and tall grass, rotten stumps and tree trunks), and with the onset of night, hunting time begins. The diet of vipers includes mice, frogs, small birds and chicks, lizards, and small animals. In the spring, before mating, vipers feed especially actively; after mating, a second period of active feeding begins.
Vipers reach sexual maturity at the age of four to five years. Males mature slightly earlier than females. In the south, areola vipers are able to reproduce already in the third year of life in males and in the fourth year in females. The mating period begins around May, when the snakes have regained their strength after winter. The intrauterine development of viper embryos is very interesting. The walls of the upper shell of the eggs are penetrated by blood vessels, so the embryo feeds on both the yolk of the egg and nutrients dissolved in the mother’s blood. After about three months, the period of development of the offspring ends, and the juveniles are born at the end of August - mid-September. As a rule, the female gives birth to ten to twelve cubs annually.
Young vipers are born quite large, their body length is fifteen to seventeen centimeters. After two to three days, the juveniles molt, and at the end of this process they begin to lead an independent life. At first, baby vipers feed on flies, butterflies, beetles, worms, and slugs. Over time, they begin to hunt tadpoles, then small frogs and mice. In the first years of life, vipers molt very often and during this period they are inactive, spending most of their time in shelters without food.
What to do if bitten by a snake: 10 tips from a herpetologist and snake catcher
“The snake is smooth, the viper is velvet”
Alexander Ognev has just returned from the upper reaches of the Volga. On the border of the Moscow and Tver regions, he caught frogs for his pet snakes. His apartment has been reminiscent of a real zoo for four decades now. One room is completely dedicated to enclosures, terrariums, and aquariums. There are about 70 snakes alone. He is especially proud of non-venomous snakes, which with their “shirts” disguise themselves as poisonous ones. While I was getting frogs for my pet snakes, I also caught a couple of vipers for the Moscow Zoo.
“My vision is no longer good, but I feel snakes intuitively,” says the herpetologist. “We caught those who hissed and gave themselves away.” I probably missed another 30 or so that were silent. Now it is no longer the season for catching, the grass has grown, the snakes, having warmed up in the sun, run away quickly.
— What poisonous snakes are found in Moscow and the Moscow region? Who should we be afraid of? - I ask the naturalist.
— The only poisonous snake that lives in the Moscow region is the common viper. It is also called fire viper and marsh viper,” says Alexander Ognev. — Among all the snakes in the world, it has the most extensive range - the area of distribution: from Great Britain and northern Spain to Lake Baikal. Most of the range is in Russia. We can say that this is the most “Russian snake”. The common viper can also be found in Siberia. The rivers there flow from south to north and are a carrier of heat.
— Can a viper be confused with any of the non-venomous snakes?
“In the same territory, perhaps a little to the south, there lives an ordinary one. It is black or dark gray. At the base of its head it has two spots - yellow, gray, white, orange or pink. There may be snakes without spots. Sometimes they are such a dark gray color that the spots blend into the general background and are not visible. The grass snake has smoother scales, so it shines in the sun. And the viper is like velvet, it has a comb on every scale.
The grass snake is a fast-moving snake; when in danger, it curls up into a tight ball and hisses. If he sees that the danger has not passed, he can pretend to be dead. At the same time, it emits a terrible odor reminiscent of garlic. For this purpose it has special anal glands.
“Vipers and snakes prefer different biotopes - habitats, vipers - the edges of swamps and clearings, and areas near rivers and lakes,” says Dmitry Vasiliev, in turn.
- What about the copperhead?
— This snake belongs to the family of colubrids. It is not dangerous for humans,” explains Alexander Ognev. — The place closest to our strip, where it is very rarely found, is the south of the Tula region. The copperhead lives in the mountains and steppes. Its diet is based on fast lizards. Unlike the viviparous lizard, which lives everywhere in our Moscow region, the sand lizard incubates its eggs in the sand, and therefore gravitates to forest-steppe and steppe zones.
— Can we say that in recent years the population of snakes in the Moscow region has increased?
— On the contrary, there are fewer and fewer snakes in the Moscow region. These are people who are “creeping away”. More and more so-called inconvenient land is being distributed for summer cottages - land unsuitable for agricultural work. These are tall, mixed forests, sphagnum swamps - exactly the places where vipers live. They simply have nowhere to go, which is why they catch people’s eyes more often. And the snake population is decreasing. Roads are being built, construction is actively underway, forests are being cut down, thereby reducing the places suitable for wintering snakes.
— What places should you avoid to avoid encountering a viper?
— In the spring they are close to their wintering areas. And wintering grounds for vipers can be quite widespread. For example, Nikolsky’s vipers overwinter in numbers of 2 thousand,” says Dmitry Vasiliev. - Thus, in the spring there can be a lot of snakes in a small clearing. And then, after molting and mating, they spread out. According to research, females usually migrate close, up to 800 meters, and males can crawl up to 11 kilometers. In the fall, they crawl to the places where they spent the previous winter.
In spring, when there is little sun, vipers can be found in some open places. And in summer they can be seen early in the morning and in the evening. Usually, encounters take place at the interface between environments: a swamp - the edge of a forest, a mowed part under a power line - the edge of a forest, garbage on a summer cottage - a vegetable garden. Vipers do not just like forests or open fields; they are there only as migrants. But the permanent places where they spend the night are associated with shelters; these should be shaded places where they can hide - holes, heaps of branches, and so on.
- So there are no vipers in the dense forest?
“They need to be able to warm up somewhere in the open.” If this is a forest, then there should be a clearing nearby.
— What are the most “snake” areas of the Moscow region?
“These are the Savelovskoe and Volokolamsk directions,” says Alexander Ognev. — Near Volokolamsk the viper has now been practically knocked out; near Dmitrov and Iksha they still remain. A sufficient number of outbreaks have been preserved in the area of Taldom and Dubna.
- I will agree. Traditionally, there are a lot of snakes in the Savelovsky direction, near Konakovo and Verbilki,” says Dmitry Vasiliev. — Also in the Shatursky direction, in the Dmitrovsky district. At one time, between the “119th kilometer” and “Temp” platforms, I caught 40 vipers in half an hour.
- Is it true that the viper does not attack a person first?
— First of all, I would like to note that Russia has a very safe environment. It greatly discourages our compatriots,” notes Alexander Ognev. “That’s why I’m not at all surprised that in Cambodia only Russian tourists are stabbed with sea urchins, because not a single European would think of stepping on a sea urchin. Or stick your fingers into the crevices of the coral to see if a moray eel is hiding there. A huge number of dangerous animals live further south. Take Turkey, where there are not only poisonous snakes, but also poisonous spiders, fish, and jellyfish. In central Russia, one should take it as a common rule: do not go into the forest barefoot or in shorts. And the worst thing there is not a viper, but a tick, which can give you a whole bunch of diseases. And the mortality rate from the viper is very low. She doesn't chase people, she never attacks herself. This is a rather cowardly creature; in case of danger, it will try to run away. The only thing is, if you come across a pregnant female, it will be difficult for her to quickly disappear, she will curl up into a ball, begin to hiss and defend herself. What are our people doing? They start hitting her in the face with a slipper, and the snake, accordingly, bites their leg. Then they say, “A snake attacked me.” In fact, they were the ones who attacked the viper.
I know several places in the Moscow region where local residents and vipers coexist perfectly. Snakes have their own “patch”, they do not leave this territory, there is an excellent food supply there, full of rodents and frogs. And the villagers, accordingly, do not interfere in their snake “state” and do not disturb the reptiles.
You have to be careful when picking berries and mushrooms. Before you step into the grass, move a stick across it. But there is no need to hit the bush with a stick. There were many cases when mushroom pickers accidentally picked up a snake, lifted it with a stick to their face, then were horrified: “A viper jumped on me.” She can't jump 1.5 meters! The viper can throw upward a maximum of 10–15 centimeters. Sneakers, high boots or boots can serve as protection. The snake does not bite through them; the length of its teeth is 4–5 millimeters.
- If a viper sees a person, it will follow him. Before he steps on her, she will make her presence known by hissing,” says Dmitry Vasiliev, in turn. - If the viper is heated, you won’t even see it, it will run away so quickly, it will only rustle the grass. Bites occur when people try to play with the viper, pick it up, or accidentally step on it or sit on it.
— At what time of day are snakes active?
“They usually go out half an hour before dawn and take positions where they can bask in the sun. “They sunbathe” until 9 am, and when they warm up, they go into hiding, says Alexander Ognev. — A snake can be seen during the day. These are so-called fattening snakes that are in search of food. The second peak of snake activity begins after four o'clock in the afternoon and lasts until sunset. My latest discovery of a viper was around 10 p.m.
“No tourniquets or immobility: let the poison dissipate”
— What to do if the viper does bite?
- Firstly, when you go into the forest, you must remember that you are the enemy there and that you are going into someone else’s territory. And you need to dress appropriately. Secondly, you need to put at least suprastin in your pocket. The fact is that the danger from a bite, according to my observations, is largely due to an allergic reaction to the poison. Poison is a protein, and different people react to it differently. Death is usually associated with anaphylaxis. Swelling of the mucous membranes of the mouth and nasopharynx can develop within 2 minutes - and the person dies.
I don’t have any allergies to viper venom; some of my snake-catching friends had swelling in their face and nasopharynx, and some had difficulty breathing. To avoid this, you need to take some kind of antihistamine with you to the forest: tavegil, claritin, cetrin, pipolfen. For example, I always had diphenhydramine with me. This medicine, in addition to everything, also has a powerful sedative effect - it relaxes and relieves pain, which is important when bitten by a snake.
If you are not a small child, but an adult or teenager, a viper bite is unlikely to be fatal for you. Yes, it hurts, you will get sick. Teenagers or women can spend a week in bed. Men, being more massive creatures, cope with a viper bite in three to four days.
(Alexander Ognev knows what he’s talking about. Poisonous teeth sank into him 91 times. 20 years of work in the serpentarium had an effect. Plus, during the capture, the herpetologist was touched by: green rattlesnake, copperhead, steppe viper, Caucasian viper, common viper, bamboo keffiyeh, etc.)
— How correctly do those who try to suck out the poison from a wound act?
“It has more of a psychological effect.” It’s a good lesson, but don’t forget about placebo (from the Latin placebo, a substance without obvious medicinal properties, used as a medicine, the therapeutic effect of which is associated with the patient’s belief in the effectiveness of the drug. - Author). Of course, you won’t suck out any poison there, but your mouth has occupied itself with something and is already distracted from the perception of the bite. We have to hear a warning - the main thing is that there are no wounds or caries in the mouth. All this is nonsense! I remember how a colleague of mine, who was present at a performance by visiting guest performers in Sochi, volunteered to drink snake venom that he had drunk right on stage. Everyone around, including the fakir, was speechless. And Igorek, a professional with a capital P, knew well that poison only works if it gets into the blood. Even if there are sores or cuts in the mouth, it is difficult to imagine the rapid absorption of protein into the body. Viper venom is not an ointment that is absorbed into the skin.
“In the French Legion, for example, soldiers are given a special locking syringe with which they can suck out snake venom,” says Dmitry Vasiliev. “It is believed that somewhere around 10–15% of the poison can be removed in this way. But it should be noted that snake venom contains a special enzyme - hyaluronidase, which instantly removes the venom from the bite point. And it is better not to do any traumatic effects, in particular cuts, treatment with some chemical agents such as potassium permanganate. Because of all this, you can subsequently limp for the rest of your life, lose a finger, and so on.
— Someone tries to apply a tourniquet when bitten by a snake. This is right?
- There is no need to do this. It’s just better if the poison disperses throughout the body,” says Alexander Ognev. “It’s bullshit that the poison can be stopped somewhere.” One of the enzymes contained in viper venom causes tissue necrosis. If you apply a tourniquet, the likelihood of necrosis increases, gangrene begins - and you will have to amputate the part on which you applied the tourniquet. Any intoxication is measured in milligrams of poison per kilogram of weight of the bitten person. I believe that when a snake bites you, the whole body should “work”, and not the part where the snake bit you. Let the poison dissipate. General poisoning will be more noticeable, but overall it will pass much faster and easier. I had a record of four hours.
When bitten by a snake, most guides advise staying still. I did the opposite. Firstly, I drank alcohol, alcohol has a wonderful property, it works as a vasodilator. Secondly, I kept moving. A snake bit me on the left hand, I worked intensively with my hand, the same way when blood is taken from a person’s vein. My hand swelled very quickly and I began to feel dizzy. After two hours, severe itching began, and this is usually a signal that the poisoning has ended and the body has begun to fight. After 4 hours the swelling began to subside.
- What about the recommendation to fix the bitten hand in a bent position with the help of a cloth thrown over the neck?
- You definitely need to keep this in mind when you sleep. On the first night after a bite, many people cannot sleep due to severe pain. Most often, a snake bites a person on the hand. It swells so much that it hurts even to touch it. At night, you need to build a pyramid out of pillows and place the bitten hand 15–20 centimeters above the heart; if it is lower, it will be much more painful due to the rush of lymph and blood.
— When bitten by a snake, do you need to drink more fluid?
- This is true. I went through various options, watermelon came first, followed by beer and coffee. All of them have good diuretic properties. If you are in the forest, make tea and throw in a handful of lingonberry leaves. Lingonberries also have a pronounced diuretic property. The fact is that poison is eliminated from the body only through the kidneys. Therefore, we need to write, write and write again. And for this you need to constantly refill your body with water.
— Why do they say: if you are bitten by a snake, never drink alcohol?
“Our people, for the most part, don’t know how to drink alcohol in small portions, and after drinking a fair amount of it, they lose touch with reality and become disoriented. For myself, empirically, I found the right dose, which is 50–70 grams of vodka. No more, alcohol should work as a superficial vasodilator. I also used fresh water with the addition of dry wine. The acidic environment disinfects, you never know what kind of E. coli you pick up from the local pond.
“There are those who apply half a cut onion to the bite site. Does this have any effect?
- There is no use in doing this. There is no more poison at the site of the bite, says Dmitry Vasiliev. — There is such a demonstrative experience. The spots on both sides of the guinea pig were shaved down to bare skin and poison tinted with methylene blue was injected into one point, and saline solution with methylene blue into the other. The area of the spot where the poison was injected was a hundred times larger than the place where the saline solution was injected. That is, the conductors in the venom instantly lead it away from the bite point. It “flies away” to the nearest lymph node.
Unless there is an allergic component, the viper's venom is not strong enough to cause death in an adult. But if within an hour after the bite there is a severe headache, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding from the mucous membranes, clouding and loss of consciousness, a feeling of flashing light in the eyes, the person must be urgently taken to the hospital.
Herpetologist Alexander Ognev was bitten by poisonous teeth 91 times. Photo from personal archive.
“You cannot use a serum prepared from the venom of other snakes against a viper bite.”
- What do you say to those who, going to the forest, take with them an antidote - ampoules with anti-snake serum?
“The fact is that allergies to serum are more common than to poison,” says Alexander Ognev. “We must remember that this is not a vaccine, this is serum that is obtained in biofactories. To make it, snake venom is injected into the body of a horse or mule. They give an injection containing poison in a dosage significantly lower than the lethal dose. Then gradually increase the dose. Antibodies accumulate in the animal, then blood is taken from it, blood cells are separated, and pure plasma is used to prepare serum. Such horses and mules are worth their weight in gold. I want to warn you: you cannot use serum prepared from the venom of other snakes against a viper bite.
And it’s better if it’s administered to you in a medical facility. Doctors will first do a test, an injection with a minimum dose and look at the reaction so that there is no redness. Then the serum will be injected subcutaneously, but not with one injection, but eight to ten, in small doses, injected into the bite site. I have never injected serum in my entire life. I repeat: if you are bitten by a common viper, if you are an adult, it is not necessary to do this.
— If you go to the nearest hospital, can you be sure that they will have anti-snake serum in stock?
“I don’t know what their situation is now.” Previously, the pharmacy where you could buy the serum was guaranteed to be located on Tishinskaya Square. The whey was produced in Stavropol and Nizhny Novgorod. Now you can buy it online. (“MK” checked and made sure that there are more than enough offers. An ampoule with serum against the venom of the common viper costs 450–550 rubles. The shelf life is no more than a year, it must be stored in the refrigerator. It is freely sold to individuals. The courier is ready to deliver the serum to any point.)
“There may not be serum in small rural hospitals, but it is always available at the Poisoning Center of the Sklifosovsky Institute of Emergency Medicine, at the Filatov Children's City Clinical Hospital No. 13, as well as in regional hospitals,” says Dmitry Vasiliev.
— How does viper venom affect cats and dogs?
- About the same as for a person. Dogs of large breeds of the Malos group are sensitive to snake venom, says Dmitry Vasiliev. — Dogs most often receive a bite in the area of the nasolabial triangle, that is, when they sniff a snake. Swelling develops quickly and dogs may have difficulty swallowing food or water. And, for example, hunting dogs and dachshunds tolerate snake bites quite easily. In cops and drathaars, symptoms of poisoning spontaneously disappear after 6 hours, which does not exclude future complications associated with the kidneys. Large breed dogs may experience heart murmurs, wheezing, and pulmonary edema. Therapy for dogs is the same as for humans. In the hospital they are injected with anti-snake serum. And then they carry out symptomatic treatment: if the pressure drops, they raise it, “drip” antihistamines and painkillers.
— Could other types of poisonous snakes appear in the Moscow region due to warming?
“Due to warming, other species may appear, but we must take into account that the formation of a species takes about 5–6 thousand years,” says Alexander Ognev. — The closest point where there is a viper is the spurs of the Talginsky ridge, northwest of Makhachkala. The northernmost point where there is a cobra is the desert and the Ustyurt plateau of the same name in the west of Central Asia, at the junction of the borders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
—Can a snake bite while in water?
— The viper swims, and quite well. Another thing is that it does not live where there are large bodies of water. And she easily swims across small rivers,” says Alexander Ognev. - In the river, if you grab it with your hand, of course, it can attack. But this is not her native element; in the river she is thinking about how to get away from you.
“I know for certain two cases when a snake bit a person in the water while trying to throw it away,” says Dmitry Vasiliev. - This is despite the fact that in order for a snake to bite, it must take a certain position. In order to throw the front third of the body forward, it needs some kind of solid support. And water is not very convenient for this. If someone mentions a snake in the water, then it is most likely a snake. They swim very willingly.
— Can a water snake be found in rivers near Moscow?
“The closest point to the Moscow region where there are water snakes is the Saratov region,” says Alexander Ognev. — Some diversity appears, starting from the Tula region. Nikolsky's viper, a copperhead that is not poisonous, already appears there. Closer to Volgograd you can meet the steppe viper and yellow-bellied snake. South of Volgograd - Sarmatian and patterned snake. The further south you go, the more species of snakes there are. But still this cannot be compared with the tropics, subtropics, the Caucasus and the Far East.
— How can you protect your garden plot from snakes?
— In the morning, about 8 o’clock, when the sun is just starting to get hot, walk around your territory and inspect everything carefully. Usually snakes warm themselves and are motionless. In order not to encounter a viper at your dacha, ensure hygiene of the area and remove construction waste, says Dmitry Vasiliev. — If you see a faded snake skin, reclaim these places and fill up all the holes.
“It is impossible for the garden plot to have deposits of firewood, piles of boards, pieces of roofing felt left after repairs,” explains Alexander Ognev, in turn. — Few people are interested in neatly stacked firewood. But piled up, rotten boards and piles of garbage are an ideal place to hide rodents and lizards. A viper can also climb there and feel completely safe. Regularly mow the grass around your garden plot and it will lose its attractiveness to lizards, shrews, voles, and vipers.
Features of the lifestyle of the common viper
Vipers, as a rule, lead a sedentary lifestyle, staying close to their wintering burrows. This probably explains the fact that they are unevenly distributed throughout the territory and form so-called “snake foci”. If these places no longer satisfy the reptiles with food resources, they migrate several hundred meters or even kilometers.
The activity of the viper depends on weather conditions. In spring and autumn it is more active during the daytime. In summer, when the weather is hot, it hides in a shelter during the day and appears on the surface in the morning, evening or night. In cool and rainy weather, the snake almost never leaves its shelter.
Nutrition
Vipers eat quite varied. Depending on the season and the abundance of available food, one or another type of prey may predominate in the diet. These can be mouse-like rodents, frogs, insects. In summer, they often eat the chicks of ground-nesting birds.
Having noticed the victim, the snake slowly approaches it, suddenly makes a lightning-fast throw and plunges its poisonous teeth into its body. Then he waits until the victim dies, slowly examines it, finds the head and begins to swallow prey from it, without entwining it or helping himself with body coils.
Wintering
Vipers leave for the winter in October. Wintering shelters, like other snakes, are voids under tree roots, under stones, rodent holes, and other underground cavities of various origins. The depth of reptiles can reach 1.5-2 meters, below the frost layer. They winter alone or in small groups. The literature describes cases when these snakes form wintering aggregations of up to 200-300 individuals.
They awaken from hibernation in April. After reaching the surface, they stay for a long time in well-warmed places, taking “sunbaths” on stumps, piles of brushwood, and stones.
Reproduction
2-3 weeks after wintering, the mating season of vipers begins. At this time, “tournament” fights take place between males, which never end in death. Raising the upper part of the body and intertwining, the rivals try to press each other to the ground and at the same time hiss menacingly. The defeated male retreats, and the female, who was watching the fight from the side, crawls to the winner. The mating season is short, ending in about a week.
The common viper is an ovoviviparous snake. The number of eggs in the oviduct ranges from 5 to 18, depending on the age and habitat conditions of the snake. After about 3 months (late July - early August), the female gives birth to an average of 8-12 cubs. In the first days of their life, young snakes are inactive and feed on the yolk remaining in the body. By the way, the bites of newborn vipers are already poisonous.
After a few days, the cubs begin their first molt, and after it ends, they crawl around the territory in search of food. They feed mainly on insects, spiders, earthworms, etc. Young individuals molt quite often in the future - 1-2 times a month. They grow slowly. Females become sexually mature only at 4-5 years of age, males a year earlier.
