A VAMMO lovers' corner

[Berislav Horvatic]

interesting but no utility:
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
etc...

The ammodytes are also my favorite, nice pictures!

Well, then, how about starting "a VAMMO lovers' corner" as a separate topic?
I could open with a movie from our vammo monitoring site at the outskirts of Zagreb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... pvXuv_GH-o
Here you can meet our record holder, a male with a total body length of 82.5 cm.

[Martti Niskanen]

How far can you trust welding gloves with a large ammo like that?

On the other hand, I've seen berus larger than that

[Berislav Horvatic]

How far can you trust welding gloves with a large ammo like that?

We don't use just any, for vammo we choose the best one can find. We asses them meticulously.
And hope for the best.
Also, we avoid provoking bites if possible.

The big male was nicknamed Boris, after the guy who had caught him for the first time
two years earlier (30 September 2008), when he measured only 80 cm. So, he grew by
2.5 cm in two years. Still a long way to go to the fabulous 1 meter, but we all wish him
good health, a long life and a lot of rodents to feed on.

[Rok Grzelj]

A female from berus and ammodytes habitat....

[Mladen Zadravec]

Hey Bero, thanks for promoting my video!

How far can you trust welding gloves with a large ammo like that?

To add to what Bero already said, the brown/orange-grey gloves he predominantly used, the same model I also use these last few years when dealing with ammodytes, have been bit by Boris and in those occasions were not pierced. However, Boris is a very reluctant biter, relying mostly on posturing to tell us he's had enough and he's always been very patient with us and cooperated with practically everything we did to him (measuring, weighing, filming, etc.) and I trust him more than some of the others in my study population (of course, trust is a relative term here). The other 80 cm long (now probably longer) male from the same location, Mrcina, who is by no means as calm as Boris, bit the same pair of gloves several times on the one occasion he was found and he also didn't pierce them.

Although there are no gloves which are "100% bite proof every time and in every occasion", the ones we use provide a reasonable amount of added safety, at least for ammodytes up to 82.5 cm. I haven't been able to test them for larger ones, since I haven't found any yet...
Some other glove models (for instance, those I use for V. berus) I definitely would not recommend for ammodytes larger than 55-60 cm. Some may be ok for ammodytes up to 70 cm, but only in their first season in the field ... The "venom defender" gloves are more than ok for approx. 80+ cm ammodytes.

I'll post some pictures of some of the ammodytes in my study population tonight....

[Berislav Horvatic]

On the 8th of April 2013 Vipera ammodytes was sighted in two different places in the mainland part of
Croatia, in an abandoned quarry in the northwestern outskirts of Zagreb and at the southern foothills
of the mt. Strahinjščica, ENE of Krapina, quite in the north of the country (12 km south of the
Croatian/Slovenian border).
As the Sunday the 14th of April was a warm sunny day, the three of us decided to visit the latter locality,
which is also one of our favourite ones. Within a few hours (11:30 - 15:00) we found 7 V. ammodytes,
5 adult males and two juveniles, at the altitude of 350 - 400 m a. s. l. All of them were rather fresh
from hibernation and not yet shed, and therefore not particularly photogenic, so here's just the best
looking one, an adult male, cca. 70 cm (estimated, not measured):

Out of the 5 adults sighted 3 were simply uncatchable due to their position on a loose heap of stones,
so here's just an in situ photo of one of them:

Considering that this is my first and up to now the only in situ photo of an ammodytes, not bad at all.

And the habitat is the best thing of all - would you ever try to search for ammodytes on a gentle hill like this one?

[Guillaume Gomard]

Thanks for the pics Bero, you made my day.

Considering that this is my first and up to now the only in situ photo of an ammodytes, not bad at all.
[/attachment]

With all the ammos you observed, I'm surprised that it is actually your first in situ picture, or you meant for 2013?

[Berislav Horvatic]

With all the ammos you observed, I'm surprised that it is actually your first in situ picture, or you meant for 2013?

No, I meant the first and only one in my life. Vammos don't wait, they disappear too quickly.
Actually, there were two of them lying side by side - a nice scene indeed. But when I got my
camera ready, one of them was already gone.
After half an hour we returned to the same heap of stones, and now there were three of them,
all lying together at the very same spot. This time all three disappeared before I was ready
to shoot.

[Daniel Bohle]

Vammos don't wait, they disappear too quickly.

haven´t seen a lot of them in my live but I know this is simply not the truth

[Berislav Horvatic]

Vammos don't wait, they disappear too quickly.

haven´t seen a lot of them in my live but I know this is simply not the truth

OK, I know what you mean.
But when I search for snakes, I have my gloves on and keep my camera in its case. (I dont want to risk
damaging it if I have to jump.) So I need some 10 seconds to take off the gloves, open the camera case,
take the camera out and get it ready. And to do all that I have to move. Any sensible snake watching
me do all that will disappear, even if slowly.
Of course I had a few chances now and then to make in situ photos of ammodytes, but I decided to be
on the safe side and jump instead - a vammo in hand is worth two in the bush...