The Hump Nosed pitviper About two months ago I got a phone call from my collegue Vicky. He was bursting with excitement. ‘I have something very special for you’ was all he was willing to tell me. Vicky rescues many more snakes from people’s houses than I do and sometimes finds some very interesting specimens. The biggest Russell’s viper I have ever seen was caught by him some years ago. And this is despite him being about a foot shorter than me!
The ‘eager beaver’ I am I wasted no time in getting to his house. Vicky had a smirk on his face when he presented me with a small plastic jar. I stared incredulously at the six inch long snake curled up within. It was the first time I was looking at a live Hump-nosed Pit Viper! As far as I knew Hump-nosed Pit Vipers were only found in deep jungles in the Western Ghats. ‘Where did you find this thing?’ I quizzed Vicky with amazement. ‘Given to me by a doctor’ replied Vicky pointing to the Goa Medical College right behind his house. As it turned out someone had been bitten by the tiny snake when placing his hand on a tree in a forest. Not knowing what snake it was the victim had captured it alive and brought it to the hospital for identification. The doctors not knowing what kind of snake it was had called up the only person they knew could identify it: Vicky! Vicky unfortunately hadn’t bothered to ask the doctor about the effects of the venom on the victim. I presume he survived though. Indian Pit Viper bites are rarely fatal. *Whitaker* and *Captain’s* book Snakes of India mentions the Hump-nosed Pit Viper to be nocturnal and terrestrial. The Hump-nosed feeds on geckos, skinks, small rodents, reptile eggs and frogs. Juveniles apparently wriggle their tails to lure prey closer to them. The Hump-nosed is an ovo-viviparous species giving birth to between 4 and 18 young which are born between March and September.
