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Yateley Adder: |
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John Member Joined: 07 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 15  View other posts by John |
Posted: 24 Feb 2008 Hi Everyone I love this site so much, and finally have a picture worthy of a post My girlfriend Tammy took this one of a young male (i think) at mid day  |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 24 Feb 2008 Fantastic piccy, it really captures an adder lying out in the spring well, all those who want to see adders but haven't had a lot of luck, that is what you are looking for and often from 6ft away you wouldn't spot it. Looks to me to be a pre-moult male  Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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Judderman62 Member Joined: 31 Jan 2008 No. of posts: 16  View other posts by Judderman62 |
Posted: 25 Feb 2008 [QUOTE=GemmaJF]Fantastic piccy, it really captures an adder lying out in the spring well, all those who want to see adders but haven't had a lot of luck, that is what you are looking for and often from 6ft away you wouldn't spot it. Looks to me to be a pre-moult male [/QUOTE]When the Males are that colour is there any way of telling them apart from the female other than their size ? What makes you say you think that is a male ? Many thanks  |
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GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 25 Feb 2008 Hi Judderman62, I used to have real problems telling pre-moult males from females until Tony P and a few other forums members put me right. Looking at the piccy above, the stripe and side blotches are pitch black and contrast a great deal with the background brown colour, in females it isn't usually, if ever, so contrasting, the stripe is usually lighter and the blotches less well defined. There are other signs too, but that is the one that helps me most in the field. Look at the tail, females have funny little tails that look a bit like they were stuck on as an after thought, whereas the males tails are longer and more tapering. We also have a thread somewhere about the rostral scales being different colours in males and females, this is more difficult to spot without some close-up ID photographs. One more thing, males emerge earlier, I would pretty much be expecting males only to be out at the moment. In time you also just get to know though there is always the odd one that will still confuse. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
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armata Forum Specialist Joined: 05 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 928  View other posts by armata |
Posted: 25 Feb 2008 See the adder(s) photo by Will on grass snake thread, and my comments, shows the difference to perfection 'I get my kicks on Route 62' |
- Yateley Adder |