caherp
New member
This happened to me a few years ago, but I'm new to the forums so I figured I'd post it, as it is the reason my life is rather herpetologically focused atm.
A few years ago I took my mother to India for mother's day ( week ). I could barely afford the flight so we weren't exactly staying to India Hilton ( or the equivalent ). Instead, we were staying with an Indian family in their little 2 br house ( Shack by american standards ). Anyways, I went out about town to check things out, looking for something I could do with my mom that wouldn't make me kill myself with boredom, and her squirm with uncomfortability.
I eventually wandered back to the house. I entered and my eardrums were instantly shattered by my mother's relieved and panicked screaming of my name. I started to walk towards the room I heard her screaming from but I stopped when I heard a different sound. Now, I can hardly describe the sound, it doesn't sound like a rattler's tail, but sort of like sizzling bacon fat being ground up, if that makes any sense. Anyhoo I looked down the hall and lo and behold, theres a snake in the hall, curled up in the oh-so common defensive position, and the sound is coming from it. Now at this point in my life I have, lets say, limited experience with venomous critters, so I can't identify the thing, and am unsure as to its toxicity ( the thought of it being venomous is mainly brought unto me by the sound it was making, I shudder to think that if it hadn't I might have just picked it up and thrown it outside.)
Now maybe a few of the "Hot"ter readers have identified the snake. If you haven't, I'll clue you in. It was a freaking Saw-Scaled Viper. For the less-initiated ( such as I was at the time ) Saw-Scaled Vipers are very dangerous, both because they have strong venom, and because they are aggressive. Now at this point in the story I'm fairly worried about my mother, but another glance down the hall shows that shes locked in the room were sharing. Thats good... but what do I do? My immediate thought was to just tell a couple villagers, thinking that they must deal with stuff like this frequently, or at least more frequently than a Californian bred nerd. Then it struck me that they would just kill it, which would be a shame because it was quite a pretty snake. It was ( from what I could tell and can remember ) about 2 feet, with a head that was oddly similar in shape to a corn snake's, and it was a dusty brownish color, and very very light blue, with little white bands.
I picked up a broom with the idea of pinning its head, and it launched at me a few times. One time, the force of his strike was so powerful he sort of toppled forward, which surprised me since whenever snakes struck I had always seen them recoil ( at least defensively ). Then again, beyond a few garter snakes as a child, my experience was the Animal Planet. I sort of teased it with the broom, and it would go into coils, make that haunting sound ( which I now know is it rubbing its scales together ), then strike, often toppling forward. It was in this manner I "led" it to the kitchen. With a bit more room to work with, I managed to pin its head down firmly with a mop ( I had given up on the broom ). I held the mop down with one hand, picked up a spatula with the other and gently tapped its side. It jerked free of the mop and I flew back to a safe distance. I was "dancing" with this thing for a good 30 minutes until I managed to hold its head with my hand ( I'm following what I had seen Steve Irwin do at this point ), and grab it by its midsection.
The family we were staying with had one of those foot-pedal garbage cans, which I dropped the snake into ( can was empty ). Holding down the lid I walked out of the village quite some distance into a lightly wooded area. I put the can down, put a rock on the pedal that lifts the lid, and booked it back to the house.
Such is the genesis of my reptilian rapture. As of now I'm just keeping and trying to breed cornsnakes, but my ultimate herpetological goal is to own, maintain, and breed Saw-Scaled Vipers ( little bugger really left his mark on me ).
A few years ago I took my mother to India for mother's day ( week ). I could barely afford the flight so we weren't exactly staying to India Hilton ( or the equivalent ). Instead, we were staying with an Indian family in their little 2 br house ( Shack by american standards ). Anyways, I went out about town to check things out, looking for something I could do with my mom that wouldn't make me kill myself with boredom, and her squirm with uncomfortability.
I eventually wandered back to the house. I entered and my eardrums were instantly shattered by my mother's relieved and panicked screaming of my name. I started to walk towards the room I heard her screaming from but I stopped when I heard a different sound. Now, I can hardly describe the sound, it doesn't sound like a rattler's tail, but sort of like sizzling bacon fat being ground up, if that makes any sense. Anyhoo I looked down the hall and lo and behold, theres a snake in the hall, curled up in the oh-so common defensive position, and the sound is coming from it. Now at this point in my life I have, lets say, limited experience with venomous critters, so I can't identify the thing, and am unsure as to its toxicity ( the thought of it being venomous is mainly brought unto me by the sound it was making, I shudder to think that if it hadn't I might have just picked it up and thrown it outside.)
Now maybe a few of the "Hot"ter readers have identified the snake. If you haven't, I'll clue you in. It was a freaking Saw-Scaled Viper. For the less-initiated ( such as I was at the time ) Saw-Scaled Vipers are very dangerous, both because they have strong venom, and because they are aggressive. Now at this point in the story I'm fairly worried about my mother, but another glance down the hall shows that shes locked in the room were sharing. Thats good... but what do I do? My immediate thought was to just tell a couple villagers, thinking that they must deal with stuff like this frequently, or at least more frequently than a Californian bred nerd. Then it struck me that they would just kill it, which would be a shame because it was quite a pretty snake. It was ( from what I could tell and can remember ) about 2 feet, with a head that was oddly similar in shape to a corn snake's, and it was a dusty brownish color, and very very light blue, with little white bands.
I picked up a broom with the idea of pinning its head, and it launched at me a few times. One time, the force of his strike was so powerful he sort of toppled forward, which surprised me since whenever snakes struck I had always seen them recoil ( at least defensively ). Then again, beyond a few garter snakes as a child, my experience was the Animal Planet. I sort of teased it with the broom, and it would go into coils, make that haunting sound ( which I now know is it rubbing its scales together ), then strike, often toppling forward. It was in this manner I "led" it to the kitchen. With a bit more room to work with, I managed to pin its head down firmly with a mop ( I had given up on the broom ). I held the mop down with one hand, picked up a spatula with the other and gently tapped its side. It jerked free of the mop and I flew back to a safe distance. I was "dancing" with this thing for a good 30 minutes until I managed to hold its head with my hand ( I'm following what I had seen Steve Irwin do at this point ), and grab it by its midsection.
The family we were staying with had one of those foot-pedal garbage cans, which I dropped the snake into ( can was empty ). Holding down the lid I walked out of the village quite some distance into a lightly wooded area. I put the can down, put a rock on the pedal that lifts the lid, and booked it back to the house.
Such is the genesis of my reptilian rapture. As of now I'm just keeping and trying to breed cornsnakes, but my ultimate herpetological goal is to own, maintain, and breed Saw-Scaled Vipers ( little bugger really left his mark on me ).
