Wagler's Pit-viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri)

Chan Kwok Wai, always the sharp-eyed one, spotted a Wagler's Pit-viper (Tropidolaemus/Trimeresurus wagleri) on a low-lying branch during our night walk in the Central Catchment Area on 4 November 2006. Although this is not a rare snake, it seems to be that there is very little scientific publications on the ecology of this species. Enter "Tropidolaemus wagleri" or "Trimeresurus wagleri" in Google Scholar and what you get are mostly, if not all, papers on the snake's systematics and venom. However, one can still find lots of information on the natural history and husbandry of this species in Thomas Jaekel's impressive Wagler's Viper Site. It is from this site where we get information to suggest that the pit-viper we encountered is most probably a juvenile male snake.

This arboreal snake lives among low vegetation in forests (Lim & Lee, 1989; Cox et al., 1998) and has a prehensile tail (Lim & Lim, 1992; Cox et al., 1998).



Like all pit-vipers, this nocturnal species possesses heat-sensitive pits to track warm-blooded animals (Lim & Lim, 1992). It is known to feed on small vertebrates, (Lim & Lim, 1992), geckos (Jaekel, 2006), birds (Lim & Lee, 1989), and jungle rats (Lim & Lee, 1989).

A Wagler's pit-viper can grow up to about 1 m (Lim & Lee, 1989; Lim & Lim, 1992; Cox et al., 1998) and is known to give birth to 41 neonates per litter (Cox et al., 1998).

Although this species is venomous, it is not known to bite people (Lim & Lee, 1989) and its bite is seldom deadly (Lim & Lee, 1989; Lim & Lim, 1992).

This snake is distributed in southern Thailand, West Malaysia, Singapore, parts of Indonesia and the Philippines (Cox et al., 1998).



Other sightings:

MountainMan (ClubSnap), Central Catchment Nature Reserve, posted 18 May 2005
slaam (ClubSnap), Hindhede Park, posted 18 July 2005
Azure (ClubSnap), Upper Bukit Timah Road, posted 17 February 2006


19 March 2005, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Ria Tan


18 January 2006, Dairy Farm Centre, Kenneth Chng


23 April 2006, Lower Peirce Reservoir, Yang Zhigang


1 August 2006, Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Heng Ci Pei & Violet Lee

REFERENCES

Cox, M. J., van Dijk, P. P., Nabhitabhata, J. & Thirakhupt, K., 1998. A photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of Peninsula Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd, p. 23.

Jaekel, T., 2006. Wagler's Viper Site. World Wide Web. http://www.thomas-jaekel.homepage.t-online.de/index-wa.htm.

Lim, F. L. K. & Lee, M. T. M., 1989. Fascinating Snakes of Southeast Asia – an Introduction. Tropical Press, Kuala Lumpur, p. 102.

Lim, K. K. P. & Lim, F. L. K., 1992. A Guide To The Amphibians & Reptiles Of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre, p. 95.