Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Many of the old timers on this forum keep telling newbies that Gaboon Vipers can strike or bite in any direction. Well here's a shot of my WA Gabby doing some very impressive direction changes in mid-strike. Tailing is completely out of the question!

She is 4ft long and weighs about 8 pounds last time I had her on the scale. She is very good natured and easy to move on two hooks but I never let her relaxed nature make me stupid. The distance to the 380g Rat is about 2.5 feet. The action is captured in "Normal" speed and "1/4" speed, so you can see what is happening.

** Please note my signature line, it really applies to this video.

The Mpeg can be viewed here:

Gabby in action

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Confidence is what you feel before you comprehend the situation.

I wish I knew how to get such clean footage. I have some terrible video of yellow anacondas. Their response is by far the strongest feeding response of any animal I have seen. You almost have to open the enclosure and throw it before they come for it. You cannot tuck it at an edge because they are guarding openings the second the rodent smell hits the air.

The full 180 turn on mid strike should be enough to show people they will not miss.

Awesome, Al.It has always impressed me when a snake strikes, it's made me jump on more than a few instances when then uncoil. I've seen some sound like someone was punching a wall when they hit the rat. I even had a 12 inch pygmy that would literally explode the pink when it struck, very impressive!

Nice vid!
Doug T

Wrong?

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Confidence is what you feel before you comprehend the situation.

Try this link....

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Confidence is what you feel before you comprehend the situation.