adders

Adder bite

A bite will only happen if you put your hand or foot too near the adder. If you are bitten by an adder, try not to panic, and do not rush around. You are most probably not going to die. But you must make sure that medical attention is obtained. Don’t try to drive your car, unless you are sure that you won’t endanger someone by fainting. Nobody should try to suck out the venom, and nobody should cut the wound to let the venom out. The venom is haemotoxic, and may affect the function of the heart. In some species the venom contains digestive enzymes: in an animal with no chewing teeth or saliva, this is very useful, as it is in many carnivorous insects.

Get someone to seek medical help. You may feel quite ill, but death in humans from adders in the UK is extremely rare. Children, however, are obviously affected more badly than adults. Dogs may be very badly affected.

Never take risks with adders, or any unknown snake in any country. Vipers and other venomous snakes in some countries may be more aggressive and more venomous than British adders, which are not aggressive at all, except when provoked.

This female adder looks passive, if you don’t know your adders, but it is actually fully prepared to defend itself. Its head is up in the alert position, and the front of its body forms a series of curves. Look at the distance from the head to the bend below it in the picture, and then at the length of body between. The distance over which a snake can strike depends on its shape just before that event, as we can see from the picture.

By straightening the curves the adder can fling its head forward faster than you can react – faster, perhaps, than you can see. You won’t see the jaws gape and the fangs emerge, and you won’t feel the two tiny needle points, or the flow of the venom. But soon you may start feeling very ill indeed.

This picture gives some idea of the range of the strike from the position shown in the previous picture. The snake has to judge the direction and range very accurately. The pictures below are crude computer simulations of a snake striking from a similar position, as if it were illuminated by a strobe light. From the moment that a puff adder starts a strike to the moment that it has returned to rest, no more than a quarter of a second passes. An adder may be a little slower, but don’t try to beat it to the draw. You won’t win.

If an adder is stretched out straight, even if it is facing you, it cannot strike. But if it then withdraws its body into a series of curves, it now has reserves of length to play with, like a boxer’s bent arms.

Never take risks with adders, or any unknown snake in any country. Vipers and other venomous snakes may be more aggressive and more venomous than adders in England, which are not aggressive at all.