# Wild Adder Basked On My Foot...



## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

_(... Actually, it was alongside my foot, but bear with me, this story deserves a long post_ :whistling2

Just got back home from one of the most amazing experiences of my life... as some of you may know I am fortunate enough to live near an area of heathland that I pass every day on my way home from work (why take the bus when I can pop into the nature reserve and view wild reptiles at my leisure?). Here I am lucky enough to see Common Lizards and Adders daily (and the occasional Grass Snake) and have been filming them there for some time - I have about an hour's footage of Adders already... I'm going to have to get some photographs put up too...

The day before yesterday (May 26) I happened to drop by particularly late, around seven o'clock, and saw my first melanistic animal on this site. On my way home today I took the opportunity to have another look and the same snake was there - didn't stick around very long, as it scarpered as soon as it saw me (unusual for the adders there, they're normally rather calm about people, but we'll get to that...)

Knowing that there are several pairs of adders that frequent this particular clump of bushes (including a particularly fetching russet-coloured female that is always basking with her male counterpart) I decided to stroll along and come back in ten minutes to get another look to check whether the snake had decided to come back out into the open.

I did so, and glimpsed the melanistic adder slide out from his hidey-hole. As I stepped forward to get a better look, I noticed another pair basking side-by-side nearby and froze. These snakes, having been as startled to see me as I was to see them, also froze and then took the chance after a few minutes to slide quietly into the undergrowth.

I remained still for a few minutes, one foot in front of the other, about six inches apart (anybody who practices kendo will recognise the stance... got a bit uncomfortable as I was about to hold it for the next hour... but I digress).

I could still hear the three snakes rustling in the gorse and bracken so decided to wait some more and watch them as they came out... previously I had noted that the melanistic snake had crossed a bare patch of earth (like a footpath) in order to get to a more sheltered bush surrounding a small tree. I had purposefully approached from this direction to try and get a look at the snake where it liked to bask in an adjacent patch of gorse and bushes...

Coincidentally I seemed to have placed myself onto some kind of "Adder pathway". After some rustling sounds, I spotted the female of the normal pair a few feet from where I was standing, coming towards me. Holding that same stance I watched in disbelief as the snake slid between my feet (remember, six inches apart), flicking her tongue up and down them and then nestled up alongside my right shoe, settling down into a basking coil and obviously intending to stay there...

Yup, I spent a _whole hour_ standing like a statue watching this snake bask unconcernedly with her body pressed against my foot... you must understand that the thought that she was a venomous snake did not really cross my mind (well, maybe at first...) but there was no aggression, the snake did not seem bothered about my presence at all. It wasn't stupid, it knew I was there, I was moving and leaning over to look at her, but she didn't seem worried.

Whilst I was watching her, I heard another one stir from it's hiding place and watched the melanistic male move from one patch of gorse to another. I would catch glimpses of him "exploring" from time to time during my stay... finally the second, smaller male (the one that had been basking with the female originally) began moving around and settled under a small pile of bracken not far away. I spent half the time craning my neck to watch out for the black animal, and the other half looking down at my feet to see if the female had moved.

Now, I'm no stranger to Adders, I've seen and handled more than my fair share over the years, I've kept _V. latastei_ and _V. seaonei_ back in Spain, but nothing prepared me for having a wild venomous snake basking and touching me and just sharing its space with me so freely... an incredible feeling!

Before I started visiting my local heath most days, almost all my encounters with wild snakes have been brief - usually "I spot a snake" followed by "I dive upon a snake before it can get away" - that's the way it goes with things like Whip Snakes, Montpellier Snakes and so on in the heat, if you recover from the initial surprise of finding one before the snake does, you catch it - if you don't, it shoots away and escapes.

Since I started visting my local heath and learning from some of the guys who assist in its conservation and management (including one of the wardens), I've learnt patience. I've learned to wait, and to watch, and I've witnessed Adders going about their daily lives in front of my eyes, seeing things that one normally only sees in a terrarium.

I mean, everybody has seen their pet snake _yawn_, but to see a wild adder three feet in front of you yawn, and stretch those tiny little fangs independently, and do that whole "jaw wiggle" whilst you watch in awe is somehow different, more _meaningful_ in its own way. Or watching the interactions between a pair as they bask together, how one starts moving, and the other twitches, or the male begins to rub the female with his nose and she moves off a little (obviously not in the mood :roll is something else...

One really starts to appreciate these snakes close up. The (heavily gravid) female Adder that curled up against my foot was a subtle but pleasing olive-green/beige tone, with a pale head and beautiful yellow labial scales. Interestingly, the normal male that had been with her also had these rather bright labials and was also an olive tone, rather than the more usual brownish or greyish.

I thought I knew a fair bit about Adders, but these encounters never fail to raise questions. For instance, has anybody noticed that Melanic animals seem to be somewhat shyer and more timid than normals?

Also, does anybody else think that the pair with the similar colour and yellow labial scales might have been related, and therefore perhaps evidence of kin recognition? (as already described in rattlesnakes by Prof. Rulon Clark in the U.S.).

Do Adders regularly follow the same "pathways" through grasses or over barren areas, perhaps marking out boundaries chemically as shown in _Psammophis_ and _Malpolon_? (I have noticed that where the animals I watch bask most the grass tends to be flattened by their presence - I wonder if an experienced naturalist could identify Adders' favoured basking spots by these patches alone?)

You see, so many questions spring to mind...

Anyway, this was an experience I know I will treasure always, made sweeter by the fact that I also watched a Hare over the course of the hour I was standing still, and saw a Snipe too :2thumb:. One of those deeply spiritual, life-affirming moments!

Anyway, sorry for the excessively long post, but I'm just on a bit of a high at the moment!

Regards,
Francis


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## Piraya1 (Feb 26, 2007)

That's a nice moment to have and to enjoy it well as it were.


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## kattz45x (Nov 29, 2009)

great post! i hope you dont mind me asking but how did you know the sex of the melanistic adder? im also a very keen adder lover and have been doing my own research although iv never seen a melanistic adder in the wild, i do have many other questions as you may do to. thank you for your time


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## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

kattz45x said:


> great post! i hope you dont mind me asking but how did you know the sex of the melanistic adder? im also a very keen adder lover and have been doing my own research although iv never seen a melanistic adder in the wild, i do have many other questions as you may do to. thank you for your time


Most of the females are rather heavily gravid at the moment, and very obviously so, this melanistic snake was considerably slight of build (like most males - females look chunkier and can reach a larger size).

Also, females tend to be more sedate at this time of year (usually seen basking quietly), whereas males spend more of their time actively roving around (perhaps looking for females, although the mating season is over). If you sit and watch them over a morning or afternoon you begin to appreciate how much of a livewire a male Adder can be - a female can happily sit in one area all day, the males are into everything, investigating scents and generally being curious...

I could see this animal sniffing around the undergrowth from where I was standing. Although I didn't get a particularly close view of the melanistic animal, from the snake's size, shape and "jizz" (the behaviour, not the other kind...:bash I immediately took it to be a male. I will try to verify this over the weekend, weather permitting... and hopefully get some footage and photos too!

Regards,
Francis


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## scaleylover (Mar 10, 2009)

wow sounds like an amazing experience

I'd really love to see a wild adder, although considering my very limited experience with snakes, i'd rather any encounters I have to be considerably less intimate than this 

out of interest did the female adder move off of her own accord in the end?


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## paulds (Mar 17, 2009)

What a great experience.

I would love to know what made the female do that, she must have picked up on your scent but didn't see you as a threat. Maybe prelonged exposure to human traffic has conditioned them into being less wary of humans?


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## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

scaleylover said:


> wow sounds like an amazing experience
> 
> I'd really love to see a wild adder, although considering my very limited experience with snakes, i'd rather any encounters I have to be considerably less intimate than this
> 
> out of interest did the female adder move off of her own accord in the end?


She moved off on her own accord, it was getting late in the day, and although the sun hadn't set it had gone behind a bank of high cloud/smog for a while and it was beginning to get cold, guess she decided it was time for bed...



paulds said:


> What a great experience.
> 
> I would love to know what made the female do that, she must have picked up on your scent but didn't see you as a threat. Maybe prelonged exposure to human traffic has conditioned them into being less wary of humans?


She definitely knew I was there, when she first made her approach she sniffed my shoe up and down with her tongue, as I was completely immobile I guess she decided I wasn't a threat. Once she was "settled" and coiled up to bask I twisted my body and leaned down to get a better look, she saw me and tilted her head to get a better look at me, but again must have decided that either I was no threat or else I was a particularly ugly tree swaying in the wind :whistling2:

I would imagine that these particular snakes are more "conditioned" to the presence of humans than some of the individuals deeper into the heath (the animals I spend most time watching congregate around a clump of bushes beside a footpath, plenty of dog walkers and more than a couple of other people who watch adders there!).

Having said that, if you approach them slowly I find Adders are rather laid back, they tend to just freeze and rely on camouflage until you get too close, then they'll make a break for it. "My" specimens - I have gotten rather possessive of them - generally allow onlookers to get within six feet or so (except for the melanistic animal), and I have gotten closer than that before they made a break for it - and if you stay still and quiet they will usually come back within five or ten minutes.

I know of at least three other people who watch these snakes in the same place, as far as I know none of these folks disturb the snakes either, they are content to "watch and photograph" rather than "hook and handle", so I imagine the snakes know by now they are not in any danger from humans...

EDIT: In addendum, having watched the melanistic animal a couple more times (never closely, unfortunately) I believe I may have hit upon a reason why it is so shy. Being black, it would absorb heat more quickly than "normal" animals and so not need to bask as long... therefore would be less reluctant to flee when faced with an approaching human... or it could just be that since they are not as well camouflaged as the "normal" animals selection has favoured more timid melanistic individuals, since those that are bolder would be more likely to get picked off by predators, being easier to spot in the open (I have noticed that the animal I watch rarely, if ever leaves cover like the other snakes, it always basks in very cryptic places...)

Thoughts?

Francis


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## paulds (Mar 17, 2009)

Thrasops said:


> She moved off on her own accord, it was getting late in the day, and although the sun hadn't set it had gone behind a bank of high cloud/smog for a while and it was beginning to get cold, guess she decided it was time for bed...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Francis,

All of the above makes a lot of sense.

Do you know how territorial Adders are? I'm wondering, if they are quite prevelant in the area, is it possible that more dominant or larger snakes are forcing the Adders to live in such proximity to human traffic or if certain family groups have inhabited a certain area for a period of time, maybe before the footpath was in regular use, that this could be another reason for the more open behaviour??


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## Mememe (Feb 15, 2009)

Hi Francis,

I managed to photograph the small, brightly coloured one on Monday morning. Very cold, 100% cloud cover meant she was flattened right out and after 5 minutes or so when I was very close, she allowed me to get this shot whilst moving off slowly :2thumb:


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## Captainmatt29 (Feb 28, 2009)

Mememe said:


> Hi Francis,
> 
> I managed to photograph the small, brightly coloured one on Monday morning. Very cold, 100% cloud cover meant she was flattened right out and after 5 minutes or so when I was very close, she allowed me to get this shot whilst moving off slowly :2thumb:
> 
> image


Now that is beautiful there are some local to me too


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## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

Mememe said:


> Hi Francis,
> 
> I managed to photograph the small, brightly coloured one on Monday morning. Very cold, 100% cloud cover meant she was flattened right out and after 5 minutes or so when I was very close, she allowed me to get this shot whilst moving off slowly :2thumb:
> 
> image


Awesome pic, mate! Puts all of mine to shame! :whistling2:
Well done, nice shot, this is the animal I really like, love that "gingery" colour.

Francis


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## Mememe (Feb 15, 2009)

Cheers Francis - here's one of the melanistic one:










I can see how you managed to spot the eye last time! Something about it really reminded me of Cryptelytrops purpureomaculatus - minus the pits of course.

Next time we'll track down a Natrix.


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## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

What an experience

Really enjoyed reading your post, nice bit of writing there 

Vicky


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## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

Mememe said:


> Cheers Francis - here's one of the melanistic one:
> 
> image
> 
> I can see how you managed to spot the eye last time! Something about it really reminded me of Cryptelytrops purpureomaculatus - minus the pits of course.


Again, amazing photograph! I love the eyes of melanistic adders, they look like tiny beads of blood, stand out a mile...

Went down there again today and yesterday, not much about (too hot in the afternoons, I think) but the melanistic one was there both times, he seems to have taken a liking to that area!

It crossed the path at almost exactly the same spot the female was basking against my foot, within about three feet of me yesterday, but always seems to be in much more of a "hurry" than the others, seems to know where he wants to go!



Mememe said:


> Next time we'll track down a Natrix.


Yah, let's see! Bit harder to track down than Adders... Some of those photos I took of Common Lizards came out pretty well too...

Francis


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## Mememe (Feb 15, 2009)

Thrasops said:


> It crossed the path at almost exactly the same spot the female was basking against my foot, within about three feet of me yesterday, but always seems to be in much more of a "hurry" than the others, seems to know where he wants to go!



Awesome!

Hopefully it will brighten up later in the week...


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## londoner85 (Jan 4, 2010)

can i ask where in London this heath is? i wouldn't mind taking a walk down there sometime.


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## geckodelta (Dec 11, 2008)

londoner85 said:


> can i ask where in London this heath is? i wouldn't mind taking a walk down there sometime.


Bump up for this, this heath sounds like heaven :lol2:


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