Snakes in Cyprus – Herpetological Society of Cyprus – Paphos – Cyprus
I was cleaning out my office the other day and came across an old file with information about snakes in Cyprus. I thought I’d start a series of posts dedicated to this as I have colleagues with adventurous children who often ask about poisonous snakes in Cyprus. I also think it’s much more useful to have on the net as opposed to in a drawer in my office. Here is a scan of the sticker which appears on the front of the file.
I’m pretty sure that this file comes from Hans-Jorg Wiedl often referred to as “Snake George”. George has been trying to educate and raise both the public and government awareness of the snake situation for many many years. As my purpose here is not to list the history of the Society that George is presiding, I am sure that if you are interested, then the links that I provide should be an excellent starting point for more information.
Sadly, it seems to me that the Reptile Centre that George maintained has been closed down. I’ve also read that there are hopes for a new Reptile Centre somewhere in Tsada, pending the issue of a permit and I hope it works out for him. A note in German on what appears to be the official website, seems to confirm this.
As for what is to come, I will make 7 posts, one for each snake which is profiled in this file. As I make the posts, I’ll edit this one with links to each profile. I will make them exactly as they are ordered in the file. The profiles are:
- Wormsnake (Typhlos vermicularis) – HARMLESS
- Cyprus Whip Snake (Coluber cypriensis) – HARMLESS
- Persian Large Whip Snake (Coluber jugularis) – HARMLESS
- Coin Snake (Coluber nummifer) – HARMLESS
- Montpellier Snake (Mapolon monspessulanus) – VENOMOUS
- Catsnake (Telescopus fallax) – VENOMOUS
- Bluntnosed Viper (Vipera lebetina lebetina) – VERY VENOMOUS
For completeness, I will then make an additional 3 posts for another 3 pages which are included in the file. These are:
- The different Poison Fangs
- First Aid for Poisonous Snake Bites
- Amphibians and Reptiles of Cyprus
UPDATE: I have moved the photos of the snakes to their inner post pages. Please click the “Read more…” links to get to them.
Nice! Thanks for sharing
Chris,
Thanks for the info, if you gonna attach some pics to each of those posts – that would be absolutely awesome, because it's really hard to go for a walk with dogs. You never know what kind of snake they'll bring back to you!
Hi Andrey,
Yes, as you will see from the 2 I've posted already, each of them will have its own pic
I hope to have all 7 done before Monday the latest.
Historically speaking I understand that in the Middle Ages, Cyprus had too many snakes. Cats were introduced to reduce their numbers.
Hello David,
Thank you for the comment and you are right. Please read here about The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats. It’s a story that I remember from my youth which was long enough ago for me not to remember from who/where I heard it!
[...] following comments at Chris’ blog, I came across the fascinating story that I haven’t heard before – the story of The [...]
my wife and myself have recently moved to Cyprus (Paphos) and our house overlooks a field. when on our balcony we noticed two long very dark snakes (about 4.5 -5.00 feet long raised up and intertwinned as we have two cats we were wondering if they could be hareful to our cats
On the contrary, it’s the snakes that need to be worried, not your cats! From your description, they sound like the most common Cyprus Whip Snake, which is totally harmless. There are even clips on YouTube of Cyprus whip snakes “intertwining”. Enjoy the show I would say!
just photographed a mist net with dead snakes and lizards trapped near Protaras – iwhat’s the point in people trapping them?
I’m here in Cyprus only 1 more day. I took a quad bike tour today from near Larnaca. We saw no snakes, but the guide did see a lizard. I wish I could see more reptiles while I’m here, but I think it won’t be likely.