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Please help. Adder photos wanted.: |
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Boris the Berus Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2008 No. of posts: 67  View other posts by Boris the Berus |
Posted: 08 Apr 2008
Newbe question. I'd be interested in seeing the difference in the tails of a male and female adder of comparable size. If anyone has a photo/photos of two close up tail examples would it be possible to post here. This request is for nothing more than to feed my desire to learn more about this snake and not make myself look silly by calling him a her and visa versa!
Many thanks in advance. http://www.flickr.com/photos/38923974@N07/sets/ |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860  View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 08 Apr 2008 Boris, Last year I think it was we had just such a discussion on here and folk posted pix showing the different shapes of tails. I've had a search but can't find the postings. The female adder has a suddenly tapering tail which is quite short and some people refer to it as looking like it's been stuck on as an afterthought. You can see it in this picture: http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1448 &PN=10 A male has a more gradually tapering tail. However in my experience you often don't get a good look at the tail! Suz |
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Robert V Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 No. of posts: 717 View other posts by Robert V |
Posted: 09 Apr 2008
So, would you say any of these are females then? I read somebodys post somewhere that said most males have near complete black instead of patterns on heads and are more vivid. Then surely that would make all these males would it not? RobV |
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Wolfgang Wuster Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 326 View other posts by Wolfgang Wuster |
Posted: 09 Apr 2008 Those all look like males to me. Cheers, WW Wolfgang Wüster School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 09 Apr 2008 I thought the idea was that whatever the other background colour if the zigzag type markings were black then there was no doubt it was a male. I would always take that sort of green colour to be a male feature also or is that incorrect?
Suz |
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axel Member Joined: 16 May 2006 No. of posts: 31  View other posts by axel |
Posted: 11 Apr 2008 Here is a shot of a male's tail. You can see that the tail base is as fat, if not fatter, than the body just above the vent. This thickness continues quite a bit down the length of the tail, before tapering to the tip. A female's tail would be smaller, thinner than the body at the base, and start tapering immediately after the vent. This shot is of a male I found with an unretracted hemipenis (you can see the swelling at one side). We popped it back in for him before setting him on his way! Another reliable way of sexing adders is the colour of the rostral scale (i.e. the scale right at the tip of the snout). If it's bordered in black, like in robert v's photo, it's a male. In females the scale is bordered in paler brown. Cheers, Axel. |
- Please help. Adder photos wanted. |
