My Experience With A Snake

BABY PUFF ADDERS

Hi again, What an exciting week here in Africa at Meserani Snake Park.

There are 20 different species of snakes at the park, some are harmless like the common Brown House Snake.Then there are the highly venomous species like the Black Mamba and the Egyptian Cobra.

But what we got to experience was a Puff Adder giving birth to 31 babies.

This was very exciting as the Puff Adder is one of very few snakes that give a live birth compared to other species that lay eggs.
The pregnancy can last up to 3 years, she decides when the time is right to give birth to her babies.

The most babies ever recorded born at one time is 156. They measure in length between 10-15cm. Even though they are so small, they are more dangerous than the adult Puff Adder itself because they have to protect themselves. Once she has given birth to her babies she no longer has anything to do with them they venture off into the wild to fend for themselves.

These snakes are cytotoxic, which means if the victim gets biten they will suffer from distruction of tissue. This is a slow acting poison which means the victim has time to get to the anti-venmon, there for fatalities in humans is rare. So this was a very priviledged experience for me as we don't have snakes in New Zealand where I come from. These babies will be released into the wild.

Then we went to a Maasai comformation celebration, which is after a Maasai has completed all of their bible studies. They gather for food and music and have a good old fashioned time.

We took a cake along and I had to present it to them. They loved it as the Maasai don't often have cake.

My uncle Bryan arrives today from New Zealand, he has never been out of the country, so he will be very excited.

So not long now until Christmas, I will be intereted to see how the Maasai celebrate this day.

Ok until next time.

Keep safe

Cheers

Tania Bale

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