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Mfezi, are there facts that you base your statement on? Other than the previously posted under this topic?

I must admit, when I hear the "snake!" call, I usually run and hide, so I've only met very few snakes up close and personal, inside Kruger camps. But, if and when I did, they were always being handled the "correct" way.

So, Mfezi, if you have any info which proves the opposite, I (and I'm sure this forum as a whole) would like to see some substantial evidence of that

Almost every snake (if not all) are good swimmers.

I have two questions:

1.) Apparently they only bite when you step ON and not NEXT to it. Is this true?

2.) I also want to query something else. I am not so sure that a puffadder can be called deadly. Yes, I agree that you will have a chance of turning your toes skywards with the complications of gangrene and the effects of (anaphylactic?) shock, but I am not that convinced that you will die easily from a puffadder bite.

What do the experts say?

Dead silence......

No expert moi. The best sample population would be the Western Cape Agricultural Sectors - read pickers [flowers, grapes etc] - who could answer Q1.

Re Q2: as far as I knew [back in the Jurassic Period of Medicine], anaphylaxis was consequent to the Anti-venom and NOT the cytotoxic bite, although theoretically its possible on a cellular basis i suppose.

Any immunologists out there?

if that thing bit you, you would be dead within a minute!!!!

Apparently there is also a monster at the Monte Casino bird park in Fourways.

I will go check it out in the weeks to come.

Unfortunately I could not take a picture of the snake, but here goes the description.

We were hiking the Blyderivierspoort hiking trail and came across the snake. Short and stocky of build, grey of colour with a white or cream belly. Any ideas?

Regards
Frik

That would be the seldom seen, but often heard (like a throttled hadeda) Politician snake, Politicus Odius Convoyus spp. i suspect. Hopefully you killed it.....?

This is no joke. My impression was that it could have been a puff adder and that is the reason why I have posted the question. Please help out. The snake was grey with no other markings, about 1m tall and quite thick. Regret no photos

Regards
Frik

Sounds like a puffy to me.

Dipylidium caninum?

Thanks a lot that is what I thought, just needed confirmation. A question arise now, maybe you could be of help. What different colour variations do you get and is it due to its age or what cause this variation?

Wow prinslft,

I can't help you out much with this as I have limited knowledge on snakes, but I do believe that there is a possibility of colour variations depending on habitat and times of year. The snake might have been on the brink of shedding it's skin and I dunno what the possibility of pigmentation variation is with snakes.

Hi prinslft.

It is very difficult to give an i.d. without a photo, so any guess is as good as the next.

From your description that it is a snake that is "short and stocky of build", I would agree that it could well be an adder.

I do however have severe doubts whether it was a Puff Adder. Though there is variety in the colour scheme amongst snakes within a species, this does not sound like that of a Puff Adder. They are usually beautiful animals, with wonderful patterns on their bodies. It is not the description of it being grey of colour that bothers me, rather you mentioning that it is an animal "with no other markings".

What could it be if it was not a Puff Adder? Maybe a Berg Adder? The Berg Adders in Mpumalanga is know to be drab of colour. The colour difference on the belly is also consistent. (Though it could fit a Puff Adder also.) The area you were walking in is ideal habitat.

What was the snakes reaction and what was the weather like at the time?

The snake just hissed and kept on going. It did not attempt to bite or strike. The wheather was damp with cloud cover as it rained and hailed the day before. This was on Sunday 13/04/2008

The hissing would be consistent with the reaction you would expect from a Berg Adder. (Though they do not have a monopoly on hissing.) They are very moody animals which hiss easily and bite without much provocation.