DOR Malpolon ?

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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby miguel santos » Tue May 26, 2015 5:16 pm

Hi Robin,
The only tip I can give you is to look out on not too hot days, to the base of bushes (in the sun) or to heaps of stones. I had 3 escaping from me in such places last March. Days with some showers are great because when it stops raining they come out looking for the sun.
In the summer I would search very early in the morning or about 2/3 hours before sun set.
The one from my pictures was seen at about 19:00 h in June. I had seen lots of tracks is the sandy paths the days before and by cleaning them I saw that they crossed the area every day in the morning and some time after 14:00. I gess that was the pattern in that area. Finding that one was a case of perfect timing. I went there some times later but no luck. I also placed my camera on the ground after taking the shots and went for her but the snake just accelarated like a projectile and disapeared in a metter of seconds.
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Tue May 26, 2015 6:10 pm

Robin Duborget wrote:Gloves ?! I have not thought about that ! I conclude that it will try to bite me ...

Mamma mia, what a question...! Of course it will bite like mad, and never cease...
That's what they are - fierce dragons.
You've really found the "easiest" case, for a beginner, to start practicing snake hunting...
Gloves, of course, and long sleeves might also come in handy, as an 1.5-meter-long beast
is certainly able to bite above the gloves as well... It will try to tear you to pieces.

... what is the best conditions/biotope/hour for finding a Malpolon ?

Just go to where they live, if you know a place like that. Or ask the locals. The rest is practically immaterial.
It's not science, believe me. Just take a walk and watch out.
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Ruggero M. » Tue May 26, 2015 8:21 pm

If you search in Google Images "Malpolon + Zoroaster" you will find some pictures of mine...

https://www.google.it/search?q=zoroaste ... 80&bih=888

The pictures signed "Zoroaster" belong to me.

"Zoroaster" was the nickname I used in an italian Forum, I've abandoned time ago, because I did not agree the rules used on that Forum (pictures of "handled snakes", especially of mine, were sistematically deleted).

I've a good experience with this beautiful species, because I've kept them for some years in the terrarium and because I've found many specimens, in Italy (Liguria), France, Spain (only one small specimen!), Croatia (Cres-Losinj) and Greece.

The only snake which tried to bite me without provocation was the H. viridiflavus in 1-2 occasions (this should be interesting for Jeroen!).

On my experience, Malpolon does not bite you every time you grab it or handle it: H.viridiflavus, on the contrary, bites nastly and enduring 95-99% of the times.
I don't use gloves, and the pictures of the male handled with gloves were taken by myself while a friend of mine was holding the snake with the help of gloves.
The snake was my first Malpolon seen and captured, and it was found near Savona, in a small, old "garbage dump": that habitat is now totally destroyed and does not exist any longer... :(

In that habitat we found also eggs.
Some eggs were incubated in my home, and all the babies hatched successfully in my home-made incubator (you can see the picture of a baby Malpolon freshly hatched from its egg!).
My specimens marked themselves in the terrarium, and also the walls of the terrarium.
I could see the pair mating, but I had no success in incubating the following eggs of the brother and sister hatched from the "wild" eggs.

Once we were called near Savona to remove a "batch" of small snakes... We found a bucket literally full of freshly hatched Malpolon, collected with a shovel: some were already injured... Anyway it was easy for us to recognize every female and every male. Most snakes were released in a proper environment: few were kept for the terrarium... ;)

P.S. Wonderful and "tame" bluish male taken by my friend Melo in Losinj: it was very easy to catch, because it was late afternoon and the snake was almost asleep at the edge of the road.
blue.jpg


More usually coloured male taken by myself after a rather long "chase" in the garriga of Cres: this one was not easy to catch!
grey.jpg
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Tue May 26, 2015 9:44 pm

I don't use gloves

No gloves?! So where's the blood on your hands and arms? Or are you a saint? Or the blessed one?!

Wonderful and "tame" bluish male taken by my friend Melo in Losinj: it was very easy to catch,
because it was late afternoon and the snake was almost asleep at the edge of the road.

Non plus ultra, what else could one say...

The only snake which tried to bite me without provocation was the H. viridiflavus in 1-2 occasions
(this should be interesting for Jeroen!).
On my experience, Malpolon does not bite you every time you grab it or handle it: H.viridiflavus,
on the contrary, bites nastly and enduring 95-99% of the times.

So, H. viridiflavus would "beat" malpolon regarding the fame of being the "fiercest" snake of Europe? Well, maybe...
BTW, have you ever "tried" a Dolichophis caspius? That's a real dragon... There is a movie on You Tube, showing a
big D. caspius, held by the tail, jumping from the ground and just barely missing my friend's head... Very instructive,
regarding the (mis)behaviour of a dedicated fighter...
(Before that jump it had already inflicted quite a few bites on his legs, arms, whatever it could reach...)
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Ruggero M. » Wed May 27, 2015 8:03 am

I've too little experience with caspius... we must ask Edmond! ;) One adult specimen I've captured in Greece time ago was, if I remember well, a very fierce snake.
Have you the link of the video with the jumping caspius?

Regarding territoriality of Malpolon, it happened to me to spot the same individual in the same place (but this is not unusual for snakes), at least for a couple of days.
This does not necessarily mean that a snake inhabits the same shelter for weeks or months, and, besides this, when you see a Malpolon, you don't actually know if it's only passing nearby or it's near its usual shelter. Anyway, it's often worth trying to look again for the snake after some time (except when you see a Malpolon crossing a traffic congested road... :P ).

This male Malpolon was photographed in situ in the same place during two consecutive days in Cres: 7/6/2013 and 8/6/2013. After this date I have not found the snake any longer. And there were probably even two snakes near that place, for the "snake noises" I've heard: male and female maybe? Or the "other" noise I've heard was a gemo passing nearby? :oops:
Before 7/6/2013 I was simply not yet there to control...

malpolon cres.jpg
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Robin Duborget » Wed May 27, 2015 8:48 am

Matthijs Hollanders wrote:Can we have a habitat picture? As silly as this sounds it might help us give you advice on how to look for them. I only have a little bit of experience from Spain.


And "voila" :
IMG_2571(forum).jpg

IMG_2567(forum).jpg


It is the grasslands nearby the DOR one.
Nearby you have also an artificial lake and some wasteland.

Berislav Horvatic wrote: Mamma mia, what a question...! Of course it will bite like mad, and never cease...
That's what they are - fierce dragons.
You've really found the "easiest" case, for a beginner, to start practicing snake hunting...
Gloves, of course, and long sleeves might also come in handy, as an 1.5-meter-long beast
is certainly able to bite above the gloves as well... It will try to tear you to pieces.


Ok, gloves ! I was already bitten two time by a Hierophis but this is not like it hurts a lot ...

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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Wed May 27, 2015 4:05 pm

Have you the link of the video with the jumping caspius?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBus3YfgKO0
The jump towards the head is at 22:00.
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Wed May 27, 2015 4:11 pm

Berislav Horvatic wrote:Of course it will bite like mad, and never cease...

Not true. Many just hiss endlessly and/or do the cobra thing without biting. Here's "unheld" (= captured but standing its ground without anyone touching it in the pic) Malpie from Bulgaria.

Image
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Re: DOR Malpolon ?

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Wed May 27, 2015 4:13 pm

Robin Duborget wrote:Ok, gloves ! I was already bitten two time by a Hierophis but this is not like it hurts a lot ...

Well, a single "angry" ("displeased"?!) malpolon might bite you a dozen of times, not just twice, and that
does become quite unpleasant... so people tell me... never tried it out myself.

The habitat looks quite OK, and since the DOR individual was found around there, you have nothing more
to ask (for). Also, the place looks rather "user-friendly" (for humans), that is, rather easilly passable.
(Once I was criticized by a French colleague - not quite mildly - that I had led them to a place with a lot
of malpolons, but just terrible for the humans - which was true. He wished for a "user-friendly" site full
of malpolons, and that's what I had failed to "produce" for him...) Well, this site of yours might satisfy
even the demanding "gourmands" like him, lucky you... So, just go there... and open your eyes. GLOVES!!!

@ Jeroen: OK, that does happen too, but I suppose noone would like to take the risk of trying that out
at the outset. Maybe later, but not while grabbing the (yet untested) "dragon" for the first time...
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