Viper for my teacher

Time had passed, meanwhile back in school we had Biology classes.

Our teacher had a lot of animals’ specimens or parts of them in glass containers preserved in formalin solution. But she didn’t have a lot of snakes. So, I offered her I can get some for her. I think I brought her two but, the one I remember the most was the Common European Viper (lat. Vipera berus). Yes the venomous Viper.

(Common European Viper is one of two venomous snakes that can be most frequently found in our part of Europe. The other one is Horned Viper (lat. Vipera ammodytes)

Since I knew a lot of places where to find snakes, there was also a place where I was spending my “research time” with vipers. There were ruins of an old stonewall not far away from our vineyard cottage, where I spotted the vipers for the first time in nature. I was visiting that place quite often, especially in the summer’s sunny afternoons when the chance to see vipers basking on the stones was quite high. I always approached the place very carefully because first, I didn’t want to be bitten by a viper and second, I didn’t want to scare them off. Sometimes I used long wooden stick to tease them and to get them moving.

After I decided to bring one of the vipers to my biology teacher I had to find a way, how to catch it without putting myself in danger. I prepared a jar with a perforated lid (I used a nail to make small holes), long wooden stick with attached metal hook at the end and big cardboard box (with small hole in one of the corners). With the hook on the stick I gently moved a viper to the box. I closed the box (with the stick), then put the box with the snake on top of the jar (that was fixed between rocks) with the corner with hole pointing to the jar. It took quite a long time until the snake found its way out of the box, into the jar … based on the hissing it could be heard I believe it was quite upset.

Bringing the viper to our house, more particularly to my room I thought, was not a smart idea, although I made it sure 100 times that the jar is properly closed. So, I decided I will put it in our garage (and of course not to tell anyone). As I didn’t want to take it to the school the next day, since there were no biology classes scheduled, the snake needed to stay there for two days in the garage. And here the story became even more interested: when I came home, of course the first thing to do was to check the viper … OMG … the jar is opened and there is no snake in the jar.  I think I can still hear and feel my heartbeat 💓 at that time. Red alert No.2 … this time by me!

I sneaked backwards from the garage. Closed the door firmly. Locked the door. What now? I decided I have to tell my parents! (it was not an easy decision but, I didn’t want to put no one in danger). So I went to my father and try to explain what happened … I think he repeated all the speech from the last time (together with proposed doctors I am going to see after this mess is over) and he added some new sentences 😬. He immediately informed my mother 😱 … and the house was evacuated.

Luckily my father was brave enough and decided to help me find the snake, and not to call the firefighters. We equipped ourselves for a dangerous mission (flashlights, wooden sticks, gloves and cardboard box) and unlocked the door. We were hoping the snake is still in the garage, somewhere close to the jar. And we were (better to say – I was) lucky, since the viper was really just behind the toolbox next to that jar. As it was not that warm in the garage the snake was completely calm. Didn’t even try to bite or even hiss when my father dragged it to the cardboard box. Luckily the mission was a complete success and was finished before the rest of the family came home and things calmed down. My parents realized that there is most probably no doctor that can help me and I was allowed to take the viper next day to school. My father just made sure (with a tape) that the lid will not come off again. And of course my mother made a clear statement that only one of them will sleep in the house (either her or snake in the jar). Since the garage was a part of the house, it was not even last overnight staying option for the viper. Poor thing needed to stay somewhere outside. Where exactly I don’t know, as my father took care of that and he just handed it over to me in the morning.

Arriving to the school I took the snake to the teacher and it ended up in a different glass with formalin solution. I don’t think I would do that again (I mean to bring it for the same purpose) since my attitude and respect towards the snakes changed but, let’s say it was for academical purposes, to show and warn other children how viper looks like, so they can avoid it in nature if it crosses their way.

My next post will be about how I convinced my wife to bring the first snake to our home … It was a bargain, you know? Well you will find out more soon 😊

Thanks for reading
TJ