Year-end census at the Viper Centre

2022.12.06.

As winter approaches, the snakes retrieve to their artificial burrows to spend the next few months hibernated underground in the Centre’s outdoor terrariums. During October, we measured all of them for length and weight and took photos for ID, as we intended to find out how they developed during the active period.

Currently, a total of 1,064 Hungarian meadow vipers live in the Viper Centre. Over half of them, 542 were born in August, rising to 4,380 snakes ever born in the Viper Centre.

The oldest Hungarian meadow viper living in the Centre is a 14-year-old male, who enjoys excellent health even at such an age, with a body weight of 70.5 grams and a body length of 535 mm. Our longest snake is a 567 mm female born in 2014, and the heaviest one is a 12-year-old female weighing more than 100 grams.