Hissy Fits: The Puff Adders of Tokai Park
FOTP’s resident herpetologist answers your questions about the puff adders of Lower and Upper Tokai Park.
Reading Time: 23 minutes
By Vard Aman
Puff adders (Bitis arietans) have always had a special place in my heart. Well…and cobras too. And slug eaters. And…. OK, we’ll get to all of those on another day. This is going to be about puff adders.
This particular chapter of the story began in two different places:
The first place was Lower Tokai Park. A few years after part of the plantation (a commercial crop of Monterrey pines, just to be clear) was felled and the return of the natural vegetation (critically endangered Cape Flats Sand Fynbos) was well underway and beginning to look good, someone saw a puff adder.
Maybe it was just lying there as puff adders often do. Or maybe it was a male on the move. Whatever it was doing, the result was a hissy fit. Not from the puff adder though, but from people on social media.
Apparently – and there was very little nuance on display – people can’t use the park to walk their dogs anymore because there are puff adders, like, literally everywhere and it’s all the fault of the fynbos and the nature conservationists for putting both the puff adders and the fynbos there.
“Lower Tokai Park” should be renamed “Puff Adder Park”. (A quote miner’s dream that last sentence is: “A herpetologist says…”).
I have now, on several occasions, had calls to remove puff adders from what is supposed to be a nature reserve. Apparently, nature must be removed from nature so that people can enjoy nature.
Apparently.
Obviously, I said “no” as it is both illegal and unethical. But the hissy fits introduced me, like a bucket of ice-cold water down the back of my neck, to some of the problems facing conservationists and the conservation of this area.
Most of these problems are due to either a total misunderstanding of what nature is (particularly the puff adder part of nature) or an excessively anthropocentric view of what nature should be: the sterile, cleansed version where, unless you can call something “Bambi”, it must be removed.
Either way, someone needed to defend nature, and particularly the puff adder. And it was while I was in the front lines of this battle that I turned around and found the Friends of Tokai Park alongside me in the trench, and, well, here we are.
The second “place” was when I started to realise that what I was being told (mostly by the media) and my own experience in working with these snakes over many years were becoming more difficult to reconcile.
The way the animals behaved when I observed them or worked with them and how I was told they were supposed to behave were vastly different.
They were supposed to be aggressive, hissing loudly, coiling and striking rapidly and without forgiveness the moment they were trodden on or even nearby. I witnessed only a tiny percentage of puff adders doing this: all the others either remained motionless, frozen in place lest their amazing camouflage be lost by movement, or fleeing for safety the moment they thought their cover was blown.
And the majority of the few that did exhibit the kind of defensive behaviour that was supposed to be their default were those that were caught out in the open and who were, therefore, a lot more vulnerable and a lot more defensive.
Well, there is another way of getting a puff adder to display every “aggressive” trait that has given it its reputation, and that is to corner it and provoke it to a point where it feels it has no choice but to defend itself.
But, then, whose fault is that?
The monsters turned out to be fictitious.
So, let’s see if we can try to bring the puff adder’s story back to reality to enable people to once more enjoy walking in Lower Tokai Park without fear of standing on reptilian landmines, having their limbs blown off, their dogs and their children blasted into outer space and (here’s the most important bit) without having to remove a single puff adder!
Or even better: let’s see if we can get people to stop, appreciate, and admire these animals when they do see them, instead of asking snake catchers to remove them from the only place that they get to call home.
So, without further ado, here are a few things about puff adders that, I hope, will make your life around them more interesting and less scary.
What does a puff adder look like?
Some of the best camouflage you’ll ever see! Erm, or not see, as the case may be. When they’re unceremoniously hauled from the carefully chosen position that perfectly matches their colour and patterns, they range from light to dark brown – sometimes greenish brown (although this depends on how recently they’ve shed).
Their most distinctive marks are a series of light-coloured, backward-facing chevrons running down the back about halfway to the tail, where they dissipate into a series of bands and other random markings.
If you’re still not sure you’re looking at a puff adder at this point, there is a distinctive thin line running between the eyes (roughly the same colour as the chevrons) and a series of spots on the back of the head making a distinctive pattern.
I’m still working on this, but I strongly suspect that those markings are unique to each puff adder. Two bands, one light (behind the eye) and one dark (in front of the eye) extend from the eye level to the upper lip.
The head is large and triangular, and covered by numerous small scales. The eye is small and has a vertically elliptical pupil which can dilate in low-light conditions. The nostrils are large and are situated near the top of the snout. The dorsal scales are strongly keeled, giving the snake a rough appearance.
Incidentally, puff adders can camouflage themselves chemically as well as visually (Miller et al., 2015), meaning you won’t be able to smell or see them. How cool is that?
No need to shower, you can just switch off the pong!
How big do puff adders get?
Huuuuuge! Well, no, not that big. They start at around 20cm when they’re born and may eventually reach around 110cm and weigh around 1.5-2kg. The longest and heaviest I’ve measured was a male at 140cm and a female at 2.2kg. But anything over 90cm and 1.5kg can be regarded as above average for a Western Cape puff adder.
In our part of the world, that is quite heavy for a snake.
Males are generally longer than females while females are generally heavier than males. Males have a longer tail than females, and it’s a feature that makes telling males from females quite easy.
Are puff adders lazy?
No. They’re just working from home.
Puff adders are better described as “tactically inactive”. They’re ambush predators that rely on their exquisite camouflage to remain undetected by prey and predator alike, often setting themselves up along rodent “runs”, waiting patiently for their food to come past.
Sometimes they’ll even wiggle their tails or their tongues (Glaudas, 2017) in a way that looks like a tasty wormy morsel to a rodent. This lures the rodent, which then becomes a tasty rodent morsel, to them.
Are puff adders slow moving?
Only when they want to be, which, granted, is most of the time. Mostly, when they move, they use a caterpillar-like motion where they just “walk” along – almost as if they’re “walking” on their ribs.
They’re not “walking” on their ribs, though. What you are seeing is just the muscle action making it look as if that is what they’re doing. It does all look rather slow and relaxed but, if they need to move faster, they can use a concertina-type motion where they move the first half of their body forward first and then the second half of their body plays catch-up afterwards.
If they need to move even faster, they can use the typical serpentine S-shaped movement of which all snakes are capable.
Then, if they go into panic mode, they can side-wind, although I’ve only seen this twice. They can be very quick!
Their strikes are famously one of the fastest of any snake. But they have three versions of that strike:
- Offensive strike at prey: This strike is about three head-lengths long and it can strike and snap back again in around 0.25 seconds. When I’ve fed some of the puff adders I’ve had in rehabilitation, I’ve felt the strike on the tongs, but it was so quick I didn’t see it!
- Defensive strike with intent: If you’re close enough to a puff adder and you’ve done enough to really upset it, it’s going to strike and mean it. This strike is also blisteringly quick, but not nearly as quick as an offensive strike (i.e., you can still see it, but you won’t be dodging it). This strike normally ranges about a third of its body length. Smaller puff adders can achieve longer ranges in proportion to their body sizes.
- Defensive strike as a warning: Some puff adders will have a strike when they’re well out of range, and know it. The intent is to frighten you into leaving them alone by giving a display of speed as well as a good look at the inside of their mouths, including their beautifully long fangs. If that doesn’t work and you still pester a puff adder, you’re either an idiot or a herpetologist (the two are not mutually exclusive).
Where do babies come from?
In spring, the female puff adder releases pheromones that attract males in the vicinity. When more than one male turns up, they’ll duel for her. The duel is more of a dance than a fight – or perhaps it’s better described as the puff adder equivalent of an arm-wrestling contest. The winner is the male that forces the other male’s head onto the ground.
The winner gets to mate with the female.
Female puff adders give birth to live young in late summer, sometimes up to 40 at a time. But it’s not the same as in mammals – the eggs effectively hatch inside the female and the babies pop out.
Ovoviviparous, we call it.
What do puff adders eat?
Rodents of various kinds are their favourite, but any similarly sized mammal will do. They may also sometimes take lizards and frogs.
Are puff adders aggressive snakes?
No, not at all! Most of the time, they will keep dead still and rely on their camouflage, which works really well. People walk straight past them without knowing they’re there. They’ve even been trodden on without eliciting a reaction.
Why would they react when their primary defence method is in keeping still and not being detected? The moment they move or make a noise, they’re giving their position away and risk getting into a fight they may well lose. They’re not that stupid!
A puff adder will only consider a reaction if it thinks it has been spotted. Most of the time that consists of a series of hisses: mostly a low “huff” which just acts as a mild warning, but it can be elevate to being interspersed with loud air hose-type hisses.
If the warning is not heeded, the puff adder will defend itself. How it defends itself will depend on where it is: if in thick bush, it will flee like any other snake but, if more exposed, cornered, or out in the open, it will up the ante with its defensive display: loud hisses and/or coiling into a strike position with its head pointed down and/or mock striking.
The strike comes in only after the snake believes it has no other option.
In behavioural tests I’ve conducted on puff adders, 85% kept still when approached, 5% hissed, and only 1% struck.
Under harassment, 60% tried to get away, 15% hissed, and 3% struck.
Overall, not taking into account factors such as vegetation cover – under the cover of thick vegetation, 100% kept still when approached and none hissed or struck. And of that small percentage induced to strike, none of the strikes actually landed.
Although I’ve worked with hundreds of puff adders over the years, even deliberately provoking them on occasion (don’t ever do that), their fangs have not once touched my skin without my permission.
So, if puff adders really are the aggressive creatures they are made out to be, I must have been doing something seriously wrong all this time as I have so seldom been able to invoke their wrath.
I should perhaps mention at this point: don’t ever try to pick up a puff adder behind the head (you see people doing it on TV and on social media): if there is one thing they don’t like, it’s that.
Actually, just don’t attempt to pick up a puff adder.
What is the best time to see a puff adder?
It depends on the time of year and the temperature.
Puff adders in the Western Cape’s coastal and adjacent areas are diurnal due to the cooler climate. Above a certain temperature and they become crepuscular to nocturnal in summer, as they are in most of the country’s warmer interior.
From my data, puff adders seem to be seen most often at temperatures of 20-25°C (60%) and 25-30°C (21%). In the area in question, this is usually between 12h00 and 18h00 (70%).
They are mostly seen in spring when males are out looking for females, but can commonly be seen in late summer and autumn. My data has a spike in October (25%), with a smaller spike in April (15%). The remaining spring, summer and autumn months are consistent.
They are less common in winter but, if there are a few warm days in a row, they may come out to bask for a little while.
How many puff adders are there in Lower Tokai Park?
Lots! Way, way more than you realise. It’s just that you won’t see them because they don’t want to be spotted. Dare I say it – it’s as if you’ve been coexisting with them all this time and you didn’t even know it! Those that you’ve seen are those that you either a) somehow spotted – maybe basking in a more open area, drinking from a stream, or males on the move looking for females; or b) caused to feel threatened and therefore reacted to your presence.
How did they get there?
They arrived by themselves. No one put them there. There is a wonderful natural corridor linking Lower Tokai Park to the rest of Tokai Park and the mountainside. As the battered ecosystem attempts to splutter back into a more functional state, so the components of that ecosystem begin to gradually move back into place again.
Viable corridor? Check. Suitable habitat? Check. Water source? Check. Food source? Check. Food source for the food source? Check. And so on. There was no conspiracy by maniacally laughing nature conservation “super villains” or mad scientists to saturate “Puff Adder Park” with puff adders. It’s just nature working as it’s supposed to be working.
Samuel L. Jackson is not needed here!
OK, are there more puff adders in Lower Tokai Park than anywhere else on or near the mountain?
It’s impossible to tell, but probably not. It’s hard to assess population densities and carrying capacities when it comes to puff adders but, obviously, things like food, water and suitable habitat will be guiding factors. Due to their slow metabolism, puff adders don’t need to feed more than once every 4-6 weeks or so (sometimes longer) and, unlike cobras and mole snakes, they are not ruthlessly efficient nest-raiding rodent controllers.
This means that they are likely to occur in far higher densities, and they are certainly the most common snake in and around the mountainous areas of the Cape Peninsula.
I was called once to remove two puff adders from a smallish (about 50m2) garden in Tamboerskloof and, about three months later, the client called me back to say she now had a rat problem.
Were there only two puff adders there and were they enough to keep things in check, or were there more but the removal of two was enough to throw out the balance sufficiently for the rat numbers to noticeably increase? If the latter, then how many were still there? And how many may have started to (or will) move in (again) due to the (re)establishment of a good food source?
Questions, questions, questions…
What if I’m walking along and there’s a puff adder in the middle of the pathway?
Take photos! Then walk around it – a 2m-wide berth should do (you could probably get away with much less, but make it 2m just to be on the safe side). If you have dogs, keep them under control (which you should be doing anyway) and away from the puff adder. If you have children, then you have an excellent opportunity for some environmental education: watch the puff adder for a little while, and then walk around it.
If I find a puff adder on my property, what do I do?
Well firstly, where is your property; and secondly, where on your property is the puff adder?
If you live right next to the mountain or a nature reserve and the puff adder is in your well-vegetated garden, then it isn’t really necessary to do anything about it. Give it a fitting name for a puff adder….
…Whoa, wait a minute, I have dogs and kids and cats and gardeners and bunnies and fruit flies and pixies and….
The thing is this: that is the puff adder you can see and know about. If you live next to a mountain or a nature reserve, chances are there are more and, even if there aren’t, there will likely be more in the future.
You need to take that into account. Your kids and gardeners will need to learn and obey the “snake rules”, and these rules will still need to apply whether you see a puff adder or not. It’s a fact of life when living next to nature.
In which case, why remove the puff adder? You’re just removing the one you can see and know about. The same rules apply if you have dogs. Sorry about the bunnies though.
You can still call a snake catcher, and the snake can be removed and relocated (it won’t be relocated far – moving snakes outside of their home ranges causes all sorts of problems) but, because of where you live, another will soon be along (if they weren’t more there already).
Might as well just make peace with it and learn to co-exist.
If, however, your property is not that close to a natural area or the puff adder is actually inside your house, then it’s best to call a snake catcher to come and remove the snake for you.
Best not to try yourself but, if the snake catchers have all inexplicably “knocked off at 4”, you can place a bucket over it or try to sweep it into a bin or other suitable container.
If the puff adder is in or next to a bush, rather not as it will bolt. If it’s in the open or under a couch or something, it will enjoy the safety of the cover you are offering it. But remember to keep your hands, feet and face well away.
If the snake catcher arrives with some kind of clamping device or noose, send them packing no matter how professional they may look – puff adders hate clamping devices and nooses, and removing snakes CAN be done perfectly safely without making the snake hate you in the process.
If you live next to a mountain or a reserve and snakes are coming inside your house more than you’d like (why?), perhaps consider doing a snake-handling course yourself sometime: there is an excellent course in Cape Town run by an organisation called Nature Connect (see details beneath this article).
Can I keep a puff adder as a pet?
Yes, but a better question is, “Should you?” You can buy a captive-bred puff adder which you can keep as a pet, as long as a) all the permits are in order and, b) you know exactly what you are doing and what you need to do.
Keeping a puff adder as a pet is for experienced specialists only. Not because they’re difficult to keep – they’re not – it’s just that they’re not corn snakes or ball pythons and they’re not going to sit and watch TV with you.
Do the wrong thing and they’ll bite you and it’ll hurt. A lot!
Taking a puff adder from the wild and keeping it as a pet, or selling it as a pet, is a strict, straight flat NO! It’s both illegal and unethical. It’s called poaching.
But if a puff adder moves into your garden by itself and you like it being there, I guess you can give it a name and call it your “pet”, just as long as it’s a “pet” in name only.
If it wants to leave, then you have to let it leave. And you may go many months without seeing it. And it won’t come when you call it. It’s a puff adder, after all.
What do puff adders do when there is a fire?
They will try to escape the fire, either by finding an underground burrow or by moving away from it. Unfortunately, some will not make it. Those that survive will return to the area once it’s suitable, and many will find the area productive as rodent activity often increases in the months after a fire due to the release of seeds.
One has to remember too that fire is a natural part of fynbos and that fynbos cannot exist without it. Puff adders have been part of the fynbos ecosystem for as long as it has existed and they have evolved along with it – so fire is nothing new to them.
What is, unfortunately, relatively new for them has been the relentless destruction of their habitat and the lack of tolerance the chief destroyers of their habitat have (and have had) for them. This has a further negative impact on them when it comes to escaping fire, either through making the fire longer and hotter than it should be, effectively cooking them in their retreats (mostly due to alien vegetation…like pines) or by creating barriers that prevent them from escaping.
Often, that barrier is intolerance and a lack of understanding. So, if puff adder numbers increase in your garden on the edge of the mountain during a fire, just leave them be. They will be gone as soon as it’s safe for them to do so.
And you’ll have played your part in providing a safe haven for the nature that makes our part of the world as awesome as it is!
Are puff adders venomous?
Yes, and the venom is quite potent. The venom yield can be quite high and can be delivered relatively deeply into subcutaneous tissue due to the snake’s long fangs.
The venom is predominantly cytotoxic, which causes damage to cells and tissue.
Of course, it’s always a little more complicated than that: the venom also contains prothrombin and clotting factors, haemorrhagins (which cause internal and external bleeding) and disintegrins (which inhibits platelet aggregation) (Strydom et al., 2016).
Like many species of snake, the exact venom composition may vary between individuals, sometimes considerably, even within the same population groups (Currier et al., 2010).
And what might that venom do?
Most bites on humans occur on the hands (for what reason, hmm?) or lower legs (for perhaps more obvious reasons).
Envenomation is usually followed by an immediate burning pain, which will steadily increase, followed by extreme swelling and blistering of the skin. Large blood blisters may form around the bite site. Extensive tissue damage is likely, with possible necrosis and, if incorrectly or not adequately treated, may result in the loss of a digit or even limb.
Fatalities are rare, but recovery is slow. And expensive.
Most bites on dogs occur on the face or neck area. Bites to the face will cause extreme swelling with bleeding from the nose, but pain appears to be minimal. Most dogs survive and recover quickly – in less than a week they’ll likely be happily running around again looking for their next puff adder to increase their face size and decrease your bank balance.
That said, be very careful as there may be complications: such as the extreme swelling blocking the upper airway – most fatalities from puff adder bites are due to this. There is also a risk of hypotensive shock (Leisewitz et al., 2004).
There don’t seem to be many cases of puff adder bites on cats. In the one case I do know about, the cat died quite quickly. But I was also called out once for a small puff adder that a cat had brought into a house. The cat somehow managed to bring it inside, still alive, without getting bitten.
What should you do if you get bitten?
Try to remain calm (yes, yes, I know, easier said than done, but it is important). Uncover the bitten area and remove any restrictive clothing or jewellery. Then, get to a hospital as quickly as possible.
Do not use a pressure bandage as you might for a Cape cobra bite (neurotoxic) as this will restrict swelling and end up causing more damage. The venom might be slow acting, but the longer you delay getting to hospital for treatment, the more extensive the damage may be.
Do not try to cut around the bite area as this will cause more damage and increase the risk of infection. Trying to suck out venom, or applying electric shocks, or using various “old wives’ tales” or “traditional” remedies do not work and should be avoided.
Diesel will probably hurt you (or your dog) more than the puff adder will while doing absolutely nothing to neutralise the venom. (Seriously? Diesel? Who thinks this stuff up?)
Avoid alcohol too, tempting though it may be.
If antivenom is needed (and if there is any available), the SAIMR polyvalent antivenom is effective. But that must be done at a hospital (or a vet if your dog gets bitten and needs it) because it’s not quite as simple as just drawing it up into a syringe and injecting yourself.
Cape Town’s hospitals are pretty good by national standards, so they should know what they’re doing, and the risk of doing things like performing completely unnecessary fasciotomies is relatively low.
Why are puff adders important?
An ecosystem is the sum of its parts and puff adders (as well as other snakes) are an important part of that ecosystem. Remove that part and the ecosystem no longer functions as it should. People, whether they realise it or not, or whether they like it or not, benefit from healthy ecosystems.
The damage we’ve done to the environment is monumental; most of it will never recover. But we can try our best to conserve what we have left and to even expand it when we get the opportunity, as we do in Lower Tokai Park.
Puff adders, like all other snakes, have their role to play.
OK, so maybe you still don’t care about ecosystems and their components? Let’s talk more about venom then: venom is a complex thing, and many components from many different snake species are being studied for possible medicinal use and in some cases have already been put to use (such as contortrostatin – from American copperheads – being used in breast cancer treatment).
Venom research is still in its infancy, so who’s to say what potential cures for ailments lie in the venom of a puff adder?
What could an isolated and targeted cytolysin or disintegrin from a puff adder’s venom do to certain cancer cells? We don’t know yet, but it is very likely that they’re there, and I say we should try to find out.
To do that, we’re going to have to keep the puff adders alive.
Is there anything else interesting about puff adders?
Lots! But we’re running out of space here.
First, puff adders have a ticklish spot on their sides about a fifth to a quarter of the way from their cloaca. Tickling them there makes them squirm in a funny way. I would strongly recommend, however, that you do not try to do this yourself!
Secondly, so cryptic is the puff adder’s patterning, that it is sometimes difficult for the auto-focus on cheaper camera models to focus on a puff adder, even when the puff adder is out in the open.
Thirdly, puff adder vomit is the worst smelling thing in the world!
And, lastly, puff adders are terrified of Cape cobras, and for good reason. Cape cobras love to eat puff adders.
The few times I’ve been privileged enough to observe puff adders being pursued by Cape cobras, and if panic could be written on a snake’s face, this would be it.
Their movements become irrational and erratic.
On a pathway on the mountain above Newlands, I witnessed a smallish puff adder burst from the vegetation and into the open, moving at pace and often changing direction, as if confused. It eventually moved towards me and came to a stop just behind my boot.
A few moments later a Cape cobra followed but, spooked by the open territory, did not stay for long before returning to the bush, seemingly deciding to give up on its meal, at least for the time being.
It seems I was the lesser of the two enemies although, most likely, the puff adder didn’t even know I was there, I was just an object to try to hide behind.
But still, it’s fun to imagine that the little puff adder went to hide behind the scary human as if to say, “If you want me, you’ll have to get past my human first!”
Many people would have just run away and then claimed that they were chased by a puff adder.
References
Currier, R.B., Harrison, R.A., Rowley, P.D., Laing, G.D. & Wagstaff, S.C. 2010. Intra-specific variation in venom of the African Puff Adder (Bitis arietans): Differential expression and activity of snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) Toxicon 55 (2010) 864–873
Glaudas, X. & Alexander, G.J. 2017. A lure at both ends: aggressive visual mimicry signals and prey-specific luring behaviour in an ambush-foraging snake Behav. Ecol. & Sociobio. (doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2244-6)
Leisewitz, A.L., Blaylock, R.S., Kettner, F., Goodhead, A., Goddard, A., & Schoeman, J.P. 2004. The diagnosis and management of snakebite in dogs – a southern African perspective Jl S.Afr.vet.Ass. (2004) 75(1): 7–13
Miller, A.K., Maritz, B., McKay, S., Glaudas, X. & Alexander, G.J. 2015. An ambusher’s arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans) Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20152182.
Strydom, M., Bester, J., Sthembile, M. & Pretorius, E. 2016. The effect of physiological levels of South African puff adder (Bitis arietans) snake venom on blood cells: an in vitro model Sci. Rep. 6, 35988; doi: 10.1038/srep35988.
Contacts
Nature Connect (snake handling course)
Snake Bite Assist
Arno Naude: 083 739 9303
TAH Rosmead Avenue
The Animal Hospital: 021 674 0034
Tygerberg Poison Information Centre: 086 155 5777
Snake advice
Vard Aman: 082 539 4452
Snake removal in the Tokai area
Ashley Foster: 072 030 5810
This Post Has One Comment
Hi Vard, re: puffadder warning sounds …came across one in upper Tokai area yesterday which was well concealed under a PJ, it was emitting a quiet buzzing sound rather like large bee or wasp ….could this have been some other snake type ?
Thanks, regards
Jay