Adders - Watch first, comment later!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Great stuff Graham! Yes, I did pip you to the post there a bit but you got some great footage and managed to film a lot more than I did. Good job!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Cheers buddy! I was helped greatly by being in the company of an expert! 🙂

[@allenharris1069]

One of the best, down to earth "Vipera Berus" videos I've seen. Hats off to you.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you! Much appreciated 👍🤓👍

[@Calvin.The.Unfindable]

ahhh great video Graham - nice use of semantics there! but its amazing how many people think venomous and poisonous as the same thing interchangeably. some awesome footage there. great work.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks Calvin 🙂 - I couldn't have done it without expert guidance!

[@duster.]

In all of my 70 years living in country areas, I have only seen two adders. Beautiful animals.

[@twostime]

Not sure why KZbin brought me here but happy to see this video. I am equally enthralled by our native reptiles. Once cleared an abandoned allotment, worked down a mound of refuse uncovered lizards, slow-worms and then an adder who was perfectly willing to get itself hence. Beautiful creatures best left to their own devices. Keep the channel going.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you for your lovely kind comment. Glad you enjoyed an unexpected visit! 👍🤓👍

[@jess53nz]

Funny you and Liam from shot of wildlife both do adder videos! I've never seen one before so vet interesting

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Yeah I didn't know Liam was doing one and he slightly beat me to the punch. I'm pleased with how this video has performed though 🙂

[@jess53nz]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK oh that's funny. Both were excellent!

[@ROCKINGMAN]

I've not seen them in the UK but have seen them in France. Almost stepped on one while walking in a field. Had my wellingtons on. I was told by french farmers if I were bitten must seek medical aid quickly. Nice bit of film there. Are the UK species the same as french ones. There they are called Vipers.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

I believe they would be the same ones in France and yes medical aid certainly recommended. As I stated in the video they are venomous. "Poisonous" means something different as explained in the video. Thank you for watching and commenting. Have a great weekend 👍😀👍

[@gwafilms]

Excellent and informative upload Graham, great stuff:-)

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks Graham 👍🙂👍

[@anthonydavies6021]

Fabulous creatures and excellent documentary - a potted appreciation of the species with helpful information (and wordplay!). I have seen male and female adders in my home area of North Cornwall, the best view was of a female crossing a grassy area, so I could appreciate her beautiful sinewy motion.

[@anthonydavies6021]

I should have said sinuous motion😅

[@wildlifespotteruk]

Brilliant video Graham. Lots of sightings and captured some fab footage. 👍

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks buddy! 🙂

[@IanPhillipsWildlife]

Awesome video of a good day, Great stuff mate!!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks Ian. Couldn't have done it without you mate 🙂👍

[@amandastakeonit7402]

Beautiful snakes ALL of them. I really liked the grass snake. I appreciate the videos/pictures and information!! Sidenote: What a great name you have too, it goes together so well.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you for watching and for your kind comment 🙂 - hope you enjoy many more of my videos! 👍

[@roybatty2030]

Glad you explained the meaning of poisonous. I can continue eating adders.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

😆

[@davepayne586]

no thanks not for me.

[@roybatty2030]

@__logan__duvalier__ Noted, thanks. Thankfully, having a sense of humour isn’t yet illegal.

[@jondavis3582]

​@@roybatty2030give it time haha no serious.

[@IndigoJo]

A couple of years ago I saw an episode of Casualty in which someone was bitten by an exotic venomous snake (definitely not a native adder) and when she explained she'd been bitten by a snake, the staff asked if it was poisonous. She immediately corrected them that the word was venomous - "if you bite it, it's poisonous; if it bites you, it's venomous". Once the science lesson was over, they established that it was indeed venomous.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@IndigoJo 👍😆👍 good for them! Pedants of the world unite!!! 🙂

[@GeorgeLewer-h9g]

This is a really great introduction to this breed of snakes, well done and keep them coming.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@GeorgeLewer-h9g Thank you for your lovely kind comment! 👍🙂👍

[@stephenhayesuk]

Adders are not poisonous, they are venomous.

[@williamarthur4801]

Drat, you beat me to it, that was the comment I wanted to leave.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Exactly the point I make in the video.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@williamarthur4801 Exactly the point I make in the video.

[@WildlifeBox]

Great update Graham! Always love spotting adders, ever since I stumbled across one as a kid! Glad you clarified about adders not being "poisonous" - that's also my favourite fact about them! 😂 Keep up the good work 👍

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Cheers Will 👍🙂👍

[@roybatty2030]

Ok, fair enough. Can't see why anyone would hurt an adder, lovely shy little creatures.

[@ogstopper]

In 69 years, I have NEVER seen an adder.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Only the second time I've seen them! The first occasion was a few years ago when I rolled back a log while looking for a geocache!

[@sarahstrong7174]

They love the coastal path in Devon.

[@minecraftarenbjorn]

Interesting animal always facinated me here in sweden.

[@The-Saxon]

Graham, try a few of the adders in my part of the world, Gaboon Vipers, Night Adders, Burrowing Adders, Horned Adders and Puff Adders. Not too keen on getting a bite from any of those and yes, I was bitten by a night adder many years back, mistaking it for its very close clone, the common egg eater and as it is totally harmless, I just picked it up while out looking for snakes for our school snake pit, and then discovered I had a night adder attached to my thumb. Three days in hospital and a lesson well learned. They look very similar, night adder and egg eater, but it taught me to always check for the V behind the head, as that indicates a night adder and is not found on the harmless egg eater. While the night adder is generally not lethal, they do give a nasty and very painful bite, requiring hospitalization and anti venom.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you for your comprehensive and informative comment. Our adders here in the UK are indeed venomous (nasty if you get bitten by one) but not poisonous (you won't die from eating one). That's the distinction I explain in the video. 😀👍

[@The-Saxon]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK Yes, I did see that, I did come across a few adders while living in the UK many years back so got to know them well as I had grown up catching snakes to earn extra money while I was a poor and struggling, (financially), university student in Natal, South Africa. I love snakes so watch plenty of this type of show and spent many years getting phone calls to come and remove snakes from houses or gardens over the years, from black mambas, Egyptian cobras, (or snout nosed cobras as they are now called) Mozambique spitting cobras, Cape cobras, puff adders, burrowing adders, to the harmless mole snakes and house snakes. Thanks for a great video on the adders of the UK.

[@The-Saxon]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK Just for clarity..... snakes are dangerous, but only if you are stupid or over confident as I discovered to my peril. Three bites, first as a fourteen year old from a rinkhals, followed by a week in hospital and plenty of anti venom, second and less than a year later, was the night adder, three days in hospital and anti venom and finally, I tried to catch a 1.2m black mamba in the middle of summer on a very hot day and it caught me instead, 3 weeks in hospital, 1 week in ICU on a heart/lung machine, 1 week in high care and a week in a general ward before I was discharged and then had to catch up on 3 weeks of missed lectures at University. A costly experience indeed and it took almost 2 years before I was able to play rugby or cricket again for my club Experience brings wisdom, and wisdom brings caution. A lesson learned the hard way for me..

[@hughacland4096]

Thank you for an excellent and informative video!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it 👍🤓👍

[@squamishfish]

What a lot of people don’t know is we have 3 different species of Rattlesnakes in Canada ,

[@richardhincemon]

Prairie,Western and Massasagua Rattlesnakes

[@nathonhamilton4524]

VERY nice video thanks...

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@nathonhamilton4524 Cheers!!!

[@andrewharris4268]

They’re not poisonous. They’re delicious!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

🤣 even so I'd leave them be, they're a protected species in the UK I think?

[@andrewharris4268]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK absolutely mate. They’re beautiful. What a treat to see them sunning themselves.

[@GeoffSimpson-i7m]

Snakes do not hibernate; they brumate. The actual bite is almost painless, and the affects of the venom kick in about ten minutes after a bite.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@GeoffSimpson-i7m "brumate" eh? Ooh, that's a good word! I'll have to remember that one. Love it. Cheers! 👍🤓👍

[@edwinsanchez4889]

Yes, Adders are not poisonous. In fact, no VENOMOUS snake is poisonous.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Exactly! Precisely the (possibly pedantic) point I was making 😀. Doesn't necessarily mean they're tasty though!

[@richardhincemon]

Asian Tiger Keelback snake has both venom and poison. It obtains poison by eating salamanders and toads and stores toxins in glands located on the back of the neck. It also has venom that is injected from rear fangs which are connected to the venom glands located behind the eyes. Snakes that live on a diet of amphibians can have poison toxins in their saliva and on their teeth.

[@BaxterThewall]

Perzactley 😊

[@virgildailey1970]

In fact, there are poisonous venomous snakes! Educating yourself will prevent you from making stupid statements! Google is your friend.

[@nepaleseman1010]

There is a snake in Japan that is venomous and poisonous A Japanese Keelback but generally you are right.

[@davidmartin1093]

Plenty of adders on the north Kent marshes and up here in the Borders around the banks of an upland lake. We often saw small juvenile adders dead on the ash access road - land side of the Thames sea wall in early Summer. I suppose killed by birds but not eaten. Also on the south facing slopes of the north downs, basking under bramble bushes around May to July. A north Kent shepherd's collie was bitten on the back leg and later in the day was seen limping, the leg had to be amputated but the dog survived ok. I spent 50 years living on the north Kent marshes and without specifically looking for them, only had around half a dozen really good close viewings that lasted a few minutes. Usually with them in a patch of sun in early Summer.

[@garrysekelli6776]

What about Black Adder staring Rowan Atkinson?

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Yeah, he could be a bit poisonous, or rather venomous, at times! And very funny too! 😆👍

[@terencekidd1097]

I have only seen one adder in my 66 years and only a few grass snakes including one small one in my pond......as a kid living in Harrow was lots of slow worms about and a few weeks ago found one in my inlaws garden in Harrow so they are still there

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you for watching and commenting. Good to hear about the slow worms! 👍

[@burniemaurins2382]

Nice video, I was out in my local Glen yesterday looking for them, but no luck still too cold in NE Scotland, as it is the only snake in our part of the country, it's always nice to see them. Keep up the good work

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks Burnie. It's pretty chilly down here in Essex this April too as it goes, but my friend has been seeing Adders in South Essex.

[@garymartin557]

beautiful. never been lucky enough to have seen one.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@garymartin557 Definitely worth hooking up with someone who has local knowledge! 👍🙂👍

[@garymartin557]

​@@NaturallyCuriousUKgood idea.

[@terre08]

I caught one when i was 17, this was in Sweden and I was out fishing with a friend at a small lake, i pinned it down with my fishing rod and let it bite my motorcycle glove until no venom was left. Then i put it in a plastic bag, made some holes and put it inside my jacket. I put it in an empty fish tank and tried to feed it. It refused to eat so after a week I rode back to where i caught it and released it.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@terre08 amazing story! Glad you returned it to the wild 👍

[@joycehendry3595]

Thanks for the great adder video I am lucky to live were adders and grass snakes roam

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@joycehendry3595 Thank you. Delighted to hear it! 👍

[@shakes7333]

You'd be surprised at how many people dont know the difference between poisonous and venomous.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

🙂 thanks buddy but I bet I wouldn't be even slightly surprised! Especially having seen some of the comments on here from folk who clearly haven't actually watched the video! Have a good day my friend! 👍🙂👍

[@MsJimbo1960]

I enjoyed that, I stay in Glasgow Scotland and seen my first adder 2 years ago not too far from Glasgow ..

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you. I've never been to Glasgow but I do know that one of ours notable wildlife features is a population of Water Voles at the main cemetery - which is remarkable as it has no significant body of water! glasgow.gov.uk/watervoles .

[@alanthomson1227]

Lovely snakes , quite common in NE Scotland . Dangerous on,y to small toddlers and domestic dogs .

[@FriendLeeMr]

Amazing animals ❤

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Cheers Lee 🙂

[@GaryG1974]

There is a fourth. You forgot the Aesculapian Snake, non-native and very rare but can be found in some parts of Wales and oddly specifically in the grass hedgerows alongside the Regents Canal on London. It is a non-venomous constrictor and totally harmless to humans as it is not large enough to constrict us and feeds off of small birds and bird eggs.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@GaryG1974 Indeed, I did omit to mention that species. Thank you for the reminder. It's one I must try to seek out one day especially as I live inside the M25! 👍🤓👍

[@lizbuckland4163]

My husband was bitten by an Adder a couple of years ago. We're not entirely sure where he was when he got bit as he didn't actually see it or realise at the time until very late that night when his leg was throbbing and hurting so much he couldn't sleep so he went into the bathroom, looked down and saw the two puncture marks! He wouldn't go to the hospital straight away as it was late at night so went the next morning where the Dr confirmed it looked like an Adder bite and was given advice etc.. He was told he was out of the stage of possible allergic reaction which was good but it took 3 weeks for the puncture holes to heal over, they weren't bleeding but they also weren't healing. It was totally numb over the initial site for quite some time but the Dr warned him that he would feel pretty rough over the next couple of weeks and to try not to do much walking or moving around so the it helps to slow down the time it takes the venom to progress around the body, giving the body the chance to deal with it bit by bit instead of all at once! He quickly started to feel horrendous, hot and cold, clammy with aches and pain all over plus an awful headache. In the 3rd week the punctures started to heal but the bite itself was still numb for a long long time until one evening out of the blue all the feeling in the area came back and he said it hurt like hell, right down to the bone, as the adder had bit him on the front of his leg, not into the fleshy muscle of his calf. We narrowed it down to either he was bit going to the car on our drive that day as his jeans seemed to snag on a bramble or when he was in the local park with our daughter, he says he remembers feeling a sharp pain as he was sat there on the bench and jerked his leg away but then didn't think much of it at the time. Coincidentally my daughter's teacher drove through our rural village on her way to the school that very morning and had to stop on the main road as an adder had been slithering across the road in front of her and into the park, which had not been mowed for some time and the grass had got extremely long! My hubby had to tell the other mums the next day and they all called the kids out of the long grass and I think the parish council got inundated with calls as they soon cut the grass after that! Sadly builders are now building yet more houses on the fields where it came from so we're expecting more to come down from the fields into the village itself which really isn't fair on the wildlife population. The village tried to fight it as hard as we could but you know what its like with builders, planning departments and councils.. 😔

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Ouch! Very sorry to hear of your husband's painful experience. I'm sure you'll have realised by now that I do explain in the video that Adders are venomous - not "poisonous" which refers to something being harmful for you to eat! Conflict between humans and wildlife is usually a result of us impinging on THEIR territory rather than the other way around, so houses being built on your nearby fields is unlikely to improve matters. Finally, I do hope your husband eventually made a full recovery! Have a good weekend. 👍

[@lizbuckland4163]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK Thank you, he's totally fine now, just a couple of small dots for scars. I've bought him special reinforced industrial wellies for doing the garden lol I think you're absolutely right us encroaching on their land. Those snakes probably had nests/dens in that field along with countless other creatures. At the time there had been a great deal of disturbance in the field with test pits dug for archeological studies and different searches etc, and the test pits etc were all over the field so no doubt it had sought a quieter abode! I'm very wary of such beings, I respect that they play a vital role in our eco system but I prefer to stay well away. My friend is a snake lover and used to have loads of them, even Cobras! She recognised the bite straight away..

[@garryghost8972]

Love the video

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you! 🤓

[@garryghost8972]

You are welcome 👍

[@michaelallen7155]

If you bite it and you die, it's poison, but if it bites you and you die, that's venom,' he says. The hallmark of venom is that it's introduced via a wound.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Well put! Like it 👍🤓👍

[@OriginalMudSlinger]

great work loved snakes all my life

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@OriginalMudSlinger Thank you. It was a real treat for me to be taken by an expert friend to such a productive place 🙂

[@kevanhubbard9673]

I have actually been bitten by a member of the Adder family which was a Night Adder in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and nothing happened so maybe a 'dry bite'?The Night Adder is nothing like a Puff Adder and it's venom is pretty weak so I'd guess similar venom strength to the European Adder? Speaking of stepping on snakes about 7 years ago I was hiking in the Blue Mountains of Australia and almost stood on a snake of unknown type and Australia isn't the kind of place that you want to be stepping on snakes!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thanks Kevan. Australia = dangerous snakes and spiders! 😯

[@davidhanson1849]

Ive seen one in Northumberland county park and im wanting to be able one-day take pictures of one so i can prove to some people they are in north east

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

All you can do is get out there and make yourself available to luck! Early on a sunny morning is your best bet when hopefully any Adders present will be basking to warm up for the day's activities. Good luck! 😎👍

[@ianthomas739]

I was bitten by an adder when I was 12 yrs old playing in woodland in Cumbria a long way from home. No one at home when I got back but by then there wasn't hardly any pain or swelling.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

May have been a "dry bite" with little or no venom. I believe this can occur if the adder has recently expressed all its venom with another bite while hunting. You got lucky! 👍

[@ianthomas739]

Never heard of a " dry bite " but must have been what happened as i'm still here ! Thanks for your feedback @@NaturallyCuriousUK

[@alflyover4413]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK It could be too that the snake chose not to envenomate Ian because it couldn't eat him and just wanted him to go away.

[@diliangeorgiev]

❤❤❤

[@jasonway2632]

we had a family of adders in the kids park that had to be removed only seen couple in 54 years

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

That was clearly a safety issue, both for the kids and the Adders! Apart from when I made this video I've only ever encountered one - under a log I had rolled back while seeking a geocache! 😲🙂

[@MichaelCampin]

Snakes are not poisonous they are venomous, a big difference. I've seen an adder (viper) at Portland Bill back in the late 1960s but gave it a wide berth

[@Bigbawz364]

Aye I hear it's still there waiting for you🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍

[@FLASHAHOLIC_TV]

I've never seen a snake in the UK, saw one in seconds in Florida.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

It's about when and where to go and how to look I think.

[@ZelenskyTheMadClown]

I'm embarrassed about out lack of wildlife. We basically have squirrels, badgers, foxes and you've just seen our entire snake population.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Hearing you on FM buddy. 😕

[@LigitandMeyers]

Poisonous..... Berries are poisonous, Snakes are venomous

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

@@LigitandMeyers a good and succinct way to explain the difference. Like it. Hope you watched the whole video 🙂. Have a great day. 👍

[@davidjohnston2060]

I know it hurts a lot when you get bitten by an adder.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

I bet! Sharp teeth and venom will do that. Venomous yes, poisonous? Not so much! A semantic, even pedantic distinction on my part!!! 👍🤓👍

[@djsimonrossprice9400]

Thank god for PHEASANTS..... Believe it or not they keep their numbers down greatly... lost my dog to a bloody adder...😢

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Very sad. My sincere condolences to you. And, while the impact of bred-and-released-for-shooting pheasants on our native reptiles is something I do take issue with, that does nothing to diminish my sympathy for those who have lost a dearly loved pet to an Adder bite.

[@davidgallop484]

My dog had been bitten, by an adder , neck blew up the size of a tennis ball, took to vet cost 800£ to fix !

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Sorry to hear that. I do make the point in the video that Adders ARE VENOMOUS! - as opposed to "poisonous" which means something different. I do hope your dog made a full recovery!

[@tsunamihilmy]

min 0:12 looks more like a pre-slough male Adder, not a female 🙂

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Thank you. I'm still uncertain about sexing this species and need to look into whether their colouring changes as they near sloughing. 59 and still learning! 😆

[@felgate11]

The term you used is actually, "Sloughing" not Moulting !!

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

DOH! Yes of course! Thank you for the correction 👍🤓👍

[@nathaneadson2019]

I've eaten 1. Like 1 chicken nugget worth of meat n more bones than a kipper. Nice taste. But I don't advise it. ( this was roadkill) I still have the skin cus there very pretty.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

😆 reminds me of someone describing eating Chub - "cotton wool full of pins". Thanks for watching and for commenting. 👍

[@rhymeaholik2465]

But they ARE venomous

[@undertheradar001]

Let it bite your doggie and see how long it lasts without urgent vet anti-venom. Adders venom , drop for drop is as dangerous as rattle snake venom; however, the adder only uses round about enough venom , usually to kill a mouse or lizard. A young baby adder is far more dangerous, as it has not learned how to regulate venom (and could kill an adult); it needs lots of venom also to defend it's self, and is very agile (especially if the weather is warm).

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Nowhere in my video do I say that Adders are not venomous. The words "poisonous" and "venomous" have different and distinct meanings, which I do fully explain in the video.

[@nathaneadson2019]

These as a food sorce are rubbish. Any other animal meat u can find will be better. N don't kill um. It's not worth it.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Absolutely! Wouldn't even consider it!

[@nathaneadson2019]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK taste is OK. slugs taste rank. But It all just depends on how hungry you are. N how badly YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE. Eating really fixs this problem. N vegans will die in the wild in the winter in the UK. I KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE.

[@nathaneadson2019]

@@NaturallyCuriousUK ya not hungry enough. I KNOW.

[@johnpirie4804]

They’re protected by law.

[@cheetahobx]

Grew up with all kinds of snakes(central Virginia)....northern most point for cottonmouths.....of course....copperheads as well....never came across a rattlesnake or corral snake.....

[@seanwoodyatt7342]

They're not poisonous, they're venomous.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

As I have replied to many other comments, I do make this distinction in the video!!!!!

[@MrHoneybee2121]

Neither adders or other snakes are poisenous, they are venemous, they invenimate they do NOT poisen.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Correct. That's the distinction I make in the video.