Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Normally people ask what's the most venomous, but what is the least venomous viper? Not venom toxicity, but toxicity in view of typical bite yeild.

In other words, if you had to take a bite from a viper, but you got to pick the species, what would you pick?

I'd pick night adders, Causus, or a tiny Bitis, like caudalis or worthingtoni... Maybe the Fea's viper, Azimops, but I guess not much is known about it. Or maybe a copperhead if I were parked outside a hospital!

Anyway, that's my rather uninformed opinion... There's no 'good' viper to be bitten by, and they are ALL dangerous and ALL their bites are serious medical events. So I hope this was just a curiosity question rather than a basis for buying a pet. If you want a viper just to say you have a viper, buy a tricolored hognose and lie to your friends...

Oh, I forgot about night adders.

No, I'm not interested in keeping hots, although I love looking at them through a suitably thick transparent barrier.

I just wondered, since it always seems to be the case that people are interested in the "most" venomous, if anyone had thought about the "least" venomous. I'd expect any solenoglyph could put at least a nasty hurtin' on me, though.

No one regards bees as terribly venomous, but they kill thousands of people every year. A snake whose bite only seriously affects one out of a hundred people still should be treated very very carefully, because the risk that you might be that one person is just too great. Well, that and the fact that just because a snake is listed as non-lethal doesn't mean the bite won't make your hand rot off....

Then Vipera ursinii (Orsini's or Meadow Viper). It's small size coupled with reportedly lowest in genus toxicity sounds like a safe bet. Also, if things did get a little rougher than expected one can assume a good deal of cross reactivity to most european Vipera antivenom (usually prepared for aspis, berus and ammodytes). The small Bitis such as the Dwarf Adders are probably mild too but the venom is an unknown quantity, especially as far as A.V. cross reactivity goes (there is no specific A.V. for them). That's my choice anyway, and to be honest another reason I like these snakes is that they are really disinclined to bite in the first place and can apparently be free handled with relative safety (it wasn't me so let's not go there - I don't condone this if only for the risk of anaphylaxis).

Anyway, that's my 2c.

Cheers, Lee.