# Adder courtship and mating shots.



## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

I have been observing an area local to me(since late February) for Adder activities, and on the 20th of April i was rewarded with some interesting courtship/mating sights. 
At no time did i disturb these Adders, and since i have an 18X optical zoom lense, I dont need to get too close to them in order to capture images.

This is the 1st time Ive witnessed Adders mating(in fact, its the 1st time Ive seen any snakes mate!) Two days earlier to this, at the same spot, i also witnessed brief Adder combat too, but was unable to capture any photos of this.

Some photos then, cheers.


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

spammer alert spammer alert...:spam1::spam1::spam1:

why me for shits sake:whip:


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## Podarcis (Mar 1, 2010)

never mind the spammers. Well done. Have you let your local ARG know?

PS. Get rid of that silly banner/signature.


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

Podarcis said:


> never mind the spammers. Well done. Have you let your local ARG know?
> 
> PS. Get rid of that silly banner/signature.


Cheers, no i havent...

Silly banner???...I could take offence to that:bash:


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

Well done! It's lovely to see the different color phases, too!


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## stuarttaylor37 (Jan 5, 2008)

Amalthea said:


> Well done! It's lovely to see the different color phases, too!


Colour phases?


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Fascinating series. Well caught. Thanks for sharing these!

Best regards,
Jason


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

Amalthea said:


> Well done! It's lovely to see the different color phases, too!


Cheers...Whilst there are some Adder colour variations, the 2 here, are the normal colours you would associate with male and female.



JaySteel said:


> Fascinating series. Well caught. Thanks for sharing these!
> 
> Best regards,
> Jason


Cheers mate, i will post up the shots i took 2 days previous to this, when the 3 males were a bit lively, because of the female being in the area no doubt.








And thanks to the MOD, who removed the dodgy Scandinavian guy who spammed my thread:no1:


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## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Awesome pics TT :gasp: I can't find any


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

AshMashMash said:


> Awesome pics TT :gasp: I can't find any


Cheers Ash, if its wall to wall sunshine, with no cloud cover, chances are they are hidden from view, since we have had good warm weather for weeks now. Either look for them before 10.00am, or wait for a cooler, cloudy day.


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## AshMashMash (Oct 28, 2007)

Testudo Man said:


> Cheers Ash, if its wall to wall sunshine, with no cloud cover, chances are they are hidden from view, since we have had good warm weather for weeks now. Either look for them before 10.00am, or wait for a cooler, cloudy day.


Yeh that's pretty much what we did t'other day  Found poo though!


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## Woodsman (Aug 12, 2008)

Great pics. TT man of something I've never seen:2thumb:


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## laurencea (Aug 28, 2009)

you are the man, tt

excellent work


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

AshMashMash said:


> Yeh that's pretty much what we did t'other day  Found poo though!


Its frustrating when you "draw a blank" Ash, last Monday i went to 2 good sites, but failed to find a single snake or lizard, there is a lot of luck involved, but once you find a couple, they tend to be in the same area for awhile.



Woodsman said:


> Great pics. TT man of something I've never seen:2thumb:


Cheers mate, it was a 1st for me too.



laurencea said:


> you are the man, tt
> 
> excellent work


Thanks, as you know, its all about putting the time in observing, and a little luck too.


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## Thrasops (Apr 15, 2008)

Great pictures, thanks for sharing them. Out of interest, did you notice either animal tail-waving prior to the act, displaying the brightly-coloured tip to the other snake?

Regards,
Francis


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

As I mentioned, 2 days previous to this mating(18th of April) there were 3 males in the same area, and i have no doubt the female was also hidden somewhere close too.
I had found the 1st 2 males, and took some shots of them, and i was making my way back down the track, when i was met head on with the 3rd male. This snake was on a mission, and it was travelling at speed, and at one point i thought it was going to go right over my feet! So I followed it back to where the other males were, taking pics of it as it sped onwards. I was amazed by its speed, and also by the distance it had to go(we are talking a couple of 100 feet, easy). When it arrived, it was frantically searching areas at speed, so i crouched down close to the snakes, but if i was honest i was a bit nervous, because i knew there were 3 male Adders within 10 feet of me, all 3 of them were all around me. Then 2 of the males came together for a bit of combat, but broke off before i could even get a single pic.

Some photos of the 3 male Adders then, and I would say that the darkest one was successful in mating 2 days later(20th of April).



















This is when the 3rd Adder came close to going over my feet!


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

Thrasops said:


> Great pictures, thanks for sharing them. Out of interest, did you notice either animal tail-waving prior to the act, displaying the brightly-coloured tip to the other snake?
> 
> Regards,
> Francis


Cheers...No i didnt notice any tail waving, to be honest they were both hidden at times, in the undergrowth. I did see the male flicking his tongue over the females body, and he was also drumming over her body too.


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## 666PIT9 (Sep 23, 2010)

amazing shot mate, how did you come across the pair ??


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

666PIT9 said:


> amazing shot mate, how did you come across the pair ??


Cheers for that...As i said earlier in this thread, by closely observing an area for Adder activity, if you put the time in, you will witness some great sights.


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