Malabar Pit Viper

 Malabar pit viper and My first experience with a venomous snake.

When i took my new canon s5is camera, i was 16. I had the craze to travel in search of nice shots. But i had never took a photo of snakes before this incident.

One day we planned a trekking from kemmangundi hill station to Hebbe falls which is scenic 7 km trekking route. After 3 hours we reached the falls which was amazing(see the last pic). Like most of us will do, i gave my camera to one of my friend and asked him to take a picture of me in front of the falls,and claimed on a rock. Few seconds later i noticed something odd and looked down, there it was, ready to strike my bare feet!!!

A SNAKE!!! IT WAS MALABAR PIT VIPER!!!

Man! that was the longest 2 sec in my life, i experienced my heart pounding like crazy, my mouth was a dry desert, to save my very life i jumped into the water which was the right and only thing that i could have done to save myself. Medical help was/is a dream in such places.
Everyone rushed into that place, scared snake tried to escape like it didn't do anything to me. But it couldn't escape from my curiosity, i picked up a stick and picked it up on that and started to take photographs. This one is the first.

Malabar pit viper

 Though i did not know it was a venomous snake. I did not wanted to take risk and did not enrage the snake as the people in natgeo will do.So after few minutes it seemed like it was getting irritated so i let it go.

They are found exclusively in Western ghats, they are mostly inactive during day. Nocturnal and found on the rocks near streams. Malabar pit vipers have heat sensing organs(they are called heat sensing pits) in their head, which helps them to hunt the prey even in the dark. They are slow moving snakes but strikes very quickly (tested!).Amazing creature and one of the gem of the Western ghat's crown.

Here is another picture of malabar pit viper that i took in Agumbe.

malabar pit viper

 This is the falls where i had a wonderful opportunity to take these pictures.Unforgettable moment in my life.

hebbe falls

 The snake was on a rock, somewhere situated in the bottom right in the above pic 
After searching the snake in the web i got to know it was venomous(was feeling very proud) and since then am very interested to take photos of these beautiful creatures.

 They are dangerous creatures to play with, in some places of India u couldn't get treatment if u got bitten by a venomous snake,so know your limits and be responsible when you have a chance like this.


 © srivathsa.s
 Wildlife and artistic photographs that i publish in this blog are copyrighted.
contact me for full resolution pictures. srivathsaaa@gmail.com.
Indian wildlife photography.

GREEN VINE

    Green vine, the most beautiful snake i have ever seen. Green vines are mildly venomous and active during day. It highly depends on the camouflage,as they uses it as transport medium. The snake stretches its whole body to reach the highest point and it can almost stretch up straight without any support. The snake is least seen on the ground which makes very difficult to find out.

One day we were out in the jungle searching for birds, we noticed some unusual moments in a low level tree and we kept observing it for a while ( its really hard to find out) and we noticed something moving around  and we went there to check in. We saw a beautiful snake which was stretching its whole body to move around.

                                                               green vine

They are very thin and it can grow upto 1.5 to 2 meters. The body is aerodynamic. The snake feeds on Frogs,lizards and even birds sometimes. It goes to the highest point and uses its binocular vision to hunt. And almost i cannot forget this one because that was a first snake bite in my life. My friend told its not venomous( actually he meant slightly venomous), I was like too much excited about it.  I took some photos for a while. And i wanted to take some macro shots, so i leaned towards it and started to take snaps, suddenly it got annoyed and gave a nasty bite. and then it started itching, we went back to see doctor, that was another story to remember.

There is a stupid myth in parts of southern India, that the species uses its pointed head to blind its human victims. Actually its behaviour towards humans are neutral. I got to say it can surely scare you by opening the mouth as widely as possible.
More story about green vine in next post.
© srivathsa.s

These wildlife photos that i publish in this blog are copyrighted.
contact me for full resolution pictures. srivathsaaa@gmail.com