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RAUK - Archived Forum - Please help. Adder photos wanted.

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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/
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
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
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/
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
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.

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