2019

Snakes are Becoming Active in Search of Heat

At a time when dramatic changes in air temperature and autumn freshness are causing wildlife and reptiles to rustle, we are increasingly witnessing the presence of snakes. There are only three species of snakes living in Latvia: the viper, the grass snake and the smooth snake, which is not the legless slowworm. Only one of them is poisonous. This species is the common viper.

All reptiles, including snakes, are poikilothermic animals – they use the ambient temperature to regulate their body temperature, namely, they do not produce heat themselves or cool themselves.

In hot weather, reptiles are forced to move more often to find cooler places to regulate their body temperature, but in cold weather – to find warmer places. What concerns snakes, it is important to note that these animals still have to move every year to and from their rutting grounds, to and from their breeding grounds, from their summer hunting grounds to the wintering grounds and vice versa. There are also other reasons for the change of their location. The more often snakes move, the more often their paths intersect with those of humans.

Often you will come across a viper warming up in the sun. When encountering any snake in nature, it should be left alone.

Among the snakes to be spotted in Latvia, vipers are distinguished by their poisonousness, and among the snakes of the world – by their cold-resistance. Vipers living in Latvia are the most cold-resistant snakes on Earth, and they are to be found the farthest north of the equator.

Thanks to their cold resistance, vipers can be more or less active in Latvia even in October. But early or late, their busyness comes to an end every autumn. Usually already in late August, September, our vipers move closer to their permanent wintering grounds in underground caves, under rock heaps, under big piles of branches, tree roots, stumps, and also under the foundations of buildings, but at the end of September or early October they get to their hiding places and gradually freeze.