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Snakes from Finland!
The field season has started again, which gives me a great opportunity to take pictures of Finnish wildlife. We only have three species of snake here (one of which actually only lives on the Åland Islands), which makes it easy to cover "the snakes of Finland" in a single post. So here are some snakes from the Frozen North!
Here is one of the two grass snakes (Natrix natrix) living under/around our lab/office. The picture is from last summer; we saw them again last week sunning themselves in the field with three new little ones! Yay!
I ran into this common viper (Vipera berus berus) sunning itself at one of our collection sites. I've been told (and read) that their venom can be quite painful but is rarely lethal (barring allergy). Last year I saw a black individual somewhere near the field station, but I didn't get a picture....hopefully he/she will show up again.
1.1 Ball Pythons: Monty, Polly
1.2 Stick Insects: Tiamat, Hecuba and a still unnamed male
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Re: Snakes from Finland!
How wonderful to get to see your pictures. Please post more as I'd love to see Finland (both animals and land).
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Re: Snakes from Finland!
That grass snake has a very unusual looking head, and the viper is just cool! Is the grass snake flattening out it's head or it is just shaped that way? Thank you for sharing.
Christie
Reptile Geek
Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand
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Registered User
Re: Snakes from Finland!
I'm glad you're enjoying the pics.
That's the way the grass snake's head normally looks. They're quite beautiful; the yellow patches vary in shade and intensity -- they're useful for identifying individuals.
Here are some more herp pics; I've also got landscape pics, but I'll have to dig those up & post them later, since I'm supposed to be working now. Without further ado, Lacerta vivpara, one of the two native lizards. This is the most common reptile in Finland. As the name indicates, they give birth to live young. Actually, all of the Finnish reptiles except the grass snake are viviparous.
A pair of L. vivipara I found hibernating under a rock last field season:
And a wandering individual I found near the boats this year:
I'll put up some landscapes (summer, fall and winter) later, I promise!
1.1 Ball Pythons: Monty, Polly
1.2 Stick Insects: Tiamat, Hecuba and a still unnamed male
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Re: Snakes from Finland!
Wow very cool.. nice to see species we don't hear often about. I really like the grass snake.. and that viper has some cool orange looking eyes.
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Registered User
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Registered User
Re: Snakes from Finland!
Sorry! "The station" is Tvärminne Zoological Station, where I do my fieldwork in the summer. Here on the southern coast, the temperature ranges from +25C in summer to -25C in winter (Google tells me that's 77F to -13F) and daylength varies between 17 hours in June and about 5 hours in December. At the extremes, though, it never really gets dark (or light, depending), you just get a few hours of dusk/dawn.
It's quite a beautiful country with a remarkable people; I'm thoroughly enjoying my time here!
1.1 Ball Pythons: Monty, Polly
1.2 Stick Insects: Tiamat, Hecuba and a still unnamed male
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