As I was driving close to the Montagne de Lure, I had to investigate this area in the hope of finding an Ursini's viper, a snake that I wanted to observe for a long time. I reached the top of the mountain at approximately 2 p.m. As can be seen on the next picture, the sky was really cloudy but fortunately, the wind was moderate and it was not raining when I started to look for Vipera ursinii.
Habitat of Vipera ursinii at an altitude of around 1650m
During the first 30 minutes, I found many small grasshoppers and while I was walking along a track, I spotted a greyish creature on a rock, in the middle of Juniperus. It was a juvenile Vipera ursinii, around 15cm long.
Juvenile Ursini's viper close to Juniperus (I)
Juvenile Ursini's viper close to Juniperus (II)
Its pattern was not particularly contrasting but this was due to two reasons: First, because the snake was involved in a molting process (actually, only the old skin of its head was already removed) and second, mud was covering its body.
Vipera ursinii shedding
A few minutes later, it started to rain again revealing the “true” color of this young boy.
Top-view of the wet viper
I’ve been extremely lucky to observe this Ursini's viper and to have the time to photograph it. It’s really good news to have found a young specimen in this area. While I was gently manipulating the snake, I was surprised to discover that it was not reluctant to bite with open mouth, and that the snake exhibited a behavior recently described by Mario by V.berus (cf viewtopic.php?f=10&t=767), namely the spontaneous erection of the hemipenes.
Guillaume
