The Sahara sand viper (Cerastes vipera), is a small, venomous viper endemic to the deserts of North Africa and the Sinai Peninsula and it has a very special skill. It can hide itself by burying itself in the sand. They do this in order to wait for prey. They wiggle their tails to attract a potential meal and then lunge out from under the sand to chomp them.
Photographer Zac Herr had the brilliant idea of giving a captive-bred Sahara sand viper the opportunity to show off its special skill in a pool full of rainbow sprinkles instead of sand. pacinthesink provided the snek and jdrrising recorded the results:
@why-animals-do-the-thing Is… this ok? If it’s not eating it’s not going to swallow any or anything I guess?
Yup, this is fine! You’re correct -the snake shouldn’t be ingesting any of the substrate unless you’re feeding it in there, and that didn’t happen. Even if the snake did end up ingesting a small amount of the sprinkles, it wouldn’t be the end of the world: they don’t have the enzymes to digest sugar, but they have to be able to deal with the bones of prey and any other foreign objects in the stomach of the things they eat, so a small amount of something as small as sprinkles would just get passed as waste.
Snakes appear to be able to see some color (and UV light), but as this species buries themselves in the substrate rather than trying to camouflage themselves against it, it’s unlikely that they’d be stressed by the varied colors of the sprinkles.
And, as always, this sort of thing is fine for a short photo shoot – but it’s not the type of appropriate set-up you’d want to leave the animal in for a long period of time or have it live in.
And I’d imagine the novel smell (see the fast tongue flicks in the first gif?) would be pretty good enrichment. Providing reptiles with strange things to inspect is good for them, and I’m not sure if snakes can smell/taste sugar, but this whole situation would definitely smell interesting. Plus, that’s not a stress behavior, that’s just something they naturally do when given sand to burrow into. Or… sand-like substances.
Harmless, potentially enriching substance + special snek + camera = excellent photoshoot.
Habitat: Found mainly in lower montane wet forests & cloud forests of the highlands of western Ecuador, at 1,300-
2,000 m elevation; among herbaceous plants, shrubs & trees (typically in margins of forest edges or
clearings).
Activity and
Behavior: Mainly nocturnal & terrestrial, usually found on forest floor & near a stream or body of water. Prey mainly
on rodents, lizards, or various other available prey. Captured specimens have been observed to bear 6-
36 live young, each about 18 cm long.
Venom Characteristics: Potent hemotoxic venom, envenomation by 3 closely-related species in this genus have caused human
deaths, frequently cause severe necrosis, & may lead to amputation of human limbs.
Habitat: Found almost exclusively in lower montane wet forests & cloud forests of the Pacific slopes of the Andes
in western Columbia, at 800-2,000+ m elevation.
Activity and Behavior: Not well known. Mainly nocturnal & terrestrial. Prey mainly on available small mammals, lizards, &
sometimes birds. Closely-related species are all ovoviviparous, but there is one report that this species
lays eggs (& “broods” them).
Venom Characteristics: Not much known. One reported bite by a juvenile of this species caused grade IV envenomation (the
most severe stage), w/ renal complications, thrombosis, & necrosis.
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 