FieldHerpForum

I spotted this Bamboo/Green Tree Viper (Trimeresurus/Viridovipera steijnegeri) hunting frogs on the same wall where I shot the last one. That place is just fantastic - so far, I've seen hunting snakes there every second time I pass by. Not bad for a 30 yard stretch of roadside wall you don't even have to leave the car to inspect....

wow! that's a beauty!

-Mike

Awesome snake, what's the disposition of these?

Very mellow snakes, like most pitvipers here. They let you get close up to about five feet, then start retreating, slowly. However, I never use anything smaller than a 300mm tele/macro lens for these guys. Sticking a 105 mm macro right up their nostrils might bring the mellowness to a sudden end

I like seeing your posts Twoton. Thanks for this one too. Very cool viper. I wonder how many people notice them when passing bye. sdm.

I'm noticing that these are on some kind of Wort, the Worts here need pretty moist habitat. Is that the case with these as well? I'm just trying to understand the natural history of these a little bit better.


Justin

have you ever had a day where you see more than one snake???

but seriously, your post are always a welcome site. keep finding stuff over there, even if it is one at a time

Sure, all the time. Yesterday I found nine, twelve the other night....However, I don't photograph every single snake I meet (I do have my standards, after all ), and, more importantly, I usually choose not to show more than one, in order not to distract from it. Less is more: I find that throwing too many pictures and species into one and the same post will severely reduce the reader's attention, so I opt for the other extreme. Why go to all the trouble of finding and photographing them, only to cram twenty-plus species into one post and have people fall asleep by the tenth?

But watch out for an upcoming "Sundry Taiwan Snakes & Herps" post, into which I'll lump the trash that's amassed over the last two months - stuff that doesn't justify a single post for each animal.

As to the worts, yes, that's what they are. 95% of T. stejnegeri's prey in Taiwan is frogs, so they like wet places such as the montane forest where I found this specimen.

They are gorgeous snakes, Hans.

I am looking forward to the "Sundry" post of boring "trash". I am sure that it will be good.


Regards,
David

Here's another one I found quite exposed under this slab of rock one late morning. Maybe the heavy fog had played havoc with his circadian rhythm - he should have been snuggled up against a nice tree branch, fast asleep.....