In recent years, snakes of the Moscow region began to appear in the immediate vicinity of settlements, and hunters with mushroom pickers note more frequent meetings with
them in the woods. Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences explain this fact by abnormal heat and large-scale fires that deprived reptiles of the food supply. So snakes
changed their habitat in search of the usual coolness and water, as well as small rodents, the population of which was greatly reduced due to natural disasters.
Specialists in snakes - herpentologists explain this in a slightly different way: for more than 10 years in the Moscow region the number of reptiles has not been controlled. From the moment the metropolitan serpentarium was closed, employees were disbanded, and it was they who carried out these works. In Soviet times, up to 12 thousand snakes were caught annually on the territory of the Moscow Region, which gave
the ability to not only regulate their numbers, but also receive up to 700 grams of pure poison for the pharmaceutical industry. The consequence of this fact, according to the forecasts of herpentologists, will be a progressive increase in the number of reptiles in the coming years. Snakes of the Moscow Region found wonderful refuge on waterlogged peatlands, which will also contribute to an increase in populations.
In the Moscow region , there are only three regular species of snakes - this is ordinary, the common coppers and the common viper. First representatives
reptiles when meeting a person, as a rule, flee and are completely harmless. Copperwort is a snake from the family already reproductive and is also harmless. In fact, it turns out that the only poisonous
snakes of Moscow suburbs are vipers. But rumors of their danger are greatly exaggerated. Vipers need venom in order to kill their victims: small rodents, small birds, chicks and frogs. It is for such body weight that the dose of poison is designed. In addition, the glands that produce poison, they are poorly developed.
Man is much larger than these living creatures, but, of course, he suffers from the bite of a viper. Therefore, the most important thing when meeting with this species of reptiles is not to panic, not to scream, not to make sudden movements, and the snake will creep to the side. Man is not subject
the viper’s food interests, and it makes no sense to attack him. And all idle talk about the natural aggressiveness of vipers is completely groundless.
Snakes of the Moscow Region live mainly in forests, near marshes and rivers, less often in meadows. At
meeting with them, of course, is better understood - a poisonous or non-toxic individual crawled out to meet you. How can I do that? Firstly, a poisonous snake has a pupil like a cat’s pupil, and non-poisonous has a round pupil. Secondly, between the head and the body the viper has a thin neck. The coloring of the poisonous inhabitants of the Moscow region is very diverse: from light gray to black. The length of adult vipers reaches 1 meter. In recent years, cases of human bites by vipers have increased markedly. More often there were meetings of a man and a snake in the suburbs. 2013 was an exception - statistics show a decrease in the number of people bitten to medical facilities. But this does not mean that you can forget about the existence of these animals and not prepare for an accidental meeting with them in the forest.