The Caucasian viper belongs to the viper family. This snake is poisonous, but its bite is not fatal, although unsafe. Vipers are never the first to attack a person, trying in every possible way to avoid contact with him, i.e. crawl out of sight. Moreover, they leave their favorite places almost immediately if there are many
people, or any human activity begins. If, nevertheless, a face-to-face meeting took place, the Caucasian viper does not attack in this case either. She is trying to avoid hassles with false attacks. As soon as a man recedes, the snake immediately crawls away. She will only use her poisonous teeth as a last resort.
It lives only in the west of the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia, i.e. the species of these snakes is narrowly areal, moreover, endemic. Many people have heard about this snake, so they have a question: "What does the viper look like?" This reptile is small, its length is about 60 cm. The head is much wider than the body. The snake is painted in lemon yellow, brick red, orange colors and their combination with black in the form of zigzag stripes or transverse lines. Sometimes there are absolutely black specimens. Young individuals are less bright. Despite the colorful coloring, these snakes are not easy to spot against the background of dry leaves and stones. Here is a camouflage suit developed by a Caucasian viper. The photo shows this well.
This snake is rather phlegmatic. She spends most of the day in her shelter, crawling out to hunt at night. Only severe hunger can make her leave her favorite place in the daytime. The Caucasian viper is hiding in anticipation of the victim. As she approaches, the snake makes a sharp throw, bites and crawls away. Curls up and waits for the poison to work. For example, to kill a mouse, 1 minute is enough. Then, having calculated the victim’s location by probing the soil with his tongue, he crawls and swallows it.
Caucasian viper likes to bask in the sun. At the same time, her head and tail are always in the shade, and the body is in the sun. This position allows her to better digest night prey. Vipers feed mainly on rodents, lizards, but also do not neglect insects.
Vipers have their own territory, which, living, as a rule, in pairs, they protect from aliens. Congestion of snakes or snake foci are extremely rare. But snakes usually gather for hibernation. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, there are few suitable shelters. Secondly, having gathered in a big ball, snakes at least somehow warm each other.
Many cold-blooded animals often die in harsh winters. In contrast, vipers always live to spring. They arrange winter shelters below the freezing zone and pre-predict the onset of cold weather, managing to settle in winter apartments. In a state of hibernation, the Caucasian viper spends about 180 days a year. She crawls out of the shelter around March-April and remains awake until September-October.
These snakes mate in April-May. The Caucasian viper brings offspring once every 2-3 years, being an ovoviviparous. In a female, from 2 to 5 eggs can form in the oviduct. Offspring are born in August-September. Each snake is in a leathery transparent shell, which is disposed of within the first hour. During the second hour of life, the first molt occurs. Surprisingly, the young do not eat the first week. And from the second week they are already able to swallow prey, by weight comparable to their own.
Due to the sharp reduction in the number of Caucasian viper was listed in the Red Book.
