How to recognise the two species of poisonous snake that you could meet in France.
While walking in S.W.France you are likely to see snakes, but I do not think that it is a good idea to go out of your way to find them. I say this for the simple reason that some are very likely to bite while others will void the extremely smelly contents of their anal glands all over you. Neither of these is very amusing!
From a distance all snakes look similar to me. The books give nice pictures, but the text always goes into details about the possible colour variations which seem to say that it could be anything. A few years ago I saw one which was clearly a non-poisonous Western Whip Snake. (I knew this because I had been reading the book.) It was huge and very clearly marked. I grabbed hold of it and the blighter attacked me! Not just a token bite, but something like wrestling a scalded cat. I let go very quickly and it took me a long, long time to regain my composure. Now I grab nothing wiggly or even vaguely snake-like. Call me a wimp if you like - but at my age I can get by very well without titanic adrenaline surges thank you very much. From that day to this I give all snakes a wide berth and simply peer at them through my binoculars. When I do turn logs or stones I do it with extreme caution and let go if anything vaguely snake-like is lurking.
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE POISONOUS ONES:
DANGEROUS SNAKES.
It does not sound very technical, but the best thing to do is to look closely at their eyes. If the pupil is a vertical slit then it's a venomous snake - either an Adder Vipera berus or an Asp Viper Vipera aspis. These WILL bite if you molest them, and their bite is serious. Do not fall for the old one that all vipers have neat zigzags on their back. Most do, but others can be completely uniform. Next comes something about snake bites, but the best advice I can give is to avoid getting bitten.
ADVICE IF BITTEN:
If you do get bitten the advice is to "stay calm". Oh yes I hear you say. What you should do then is wait to see what happens next! If you have actually been poisoned then area around the puncture will begin to swell within a few minutes, and now it is a good idea to seek medical help, preferably at a hospital. The bitten area should be kept as immobile as possible. While treatment is urgently required, you should not rush around. Best if you can get yourself to the hospital within the hour, but you are unlikely to die within 24 hours - in fact you are very unlikely to die at all. Now that advice is very helpful and encouraging isn't it. Oh yes - two other things - do not try to kill a snake that has just bitten you as it will probably bite you again, and do not pick up any dead snake - many feign death and will rapidly resurrect themselves when handled. They are not in the best of moods when they find that their cunning little ruse has not worked and immediately switch to their other tactic of savaging anything in sight.
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