Day 31 - Project 365 - Wagler's Pit Viper - Female

Day 31 of Project 365

Wagler's Pit Viper

It was back in 2013 when I started Photography again and one of my favourite place to visit was Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It was there when I first saw the Wagler Pit Viper which was resting on a tree trunk and it was a juvenile male. This was my first time seeing a female and I was as happy as i was the first time I saw this beauty. 

Wagler's Pit Viper, or Temple Pit Viper, is perhaps the commonest pit viper in Southeast Asia. It occurs in lowland forest, either primary or secondary, and in some coastal regions may occur in mangrove. 

Pit vipers are all venomous, however, Wagler's Pit Viper is generally not considered to be aggressive. In the field, these snakes are most easily identified by their markedly triangular head.  

Wagler's Pit Viper is generally found resting on low vegetation, but a careful search may also locate the species at mid-canopy level many metres above the ground. 

Individuals may remain on the same branch for many days, either as they digest a recent meal, or as they lie in wait for their next meal. Prey is detected at night by means of the heat-sensing pits which occur on either side of the head.  Rodents, such as arboreal rats, and birds reportedly make up the bulk of their diet.

Juveniles and males have a slender, lime green dorsum sparsely patterned with pairs of small coloured spots or short bars either side of the vertebral line : these spots or bars are partly red and partly cream (longer bars may possibly indicate a juvenile female). There is a bicoloured stripe passing through the eye which comprises a thick red stripe below, and a thin white stripe above. The end of the tail is reddish brown.

In females the body is more thickset, dark above and pale yellow to white below. Numerous irregular pale yellow bands cross the body, and there is a thick dark stripe along the side of the head. The top of the head is mainly black.

This species occurs in southern Thailand, southern Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Indonesia including Sumatra and adjacent smaller islands, and the Riau Archipelago. 

Source: Ecologyasia

Photos and GIF below

Wagler's Pit Viper

 

Wagler's Pit Viper

Wagler's Pit Viper

Wagler's Pit Viper - Male - This is my first ever photo of this beautiful snake