Pointed-scaled Pit Viper

1 Overview

WARNING: This is a venomous pit viper. Its bite delivers hemotoxic venom and is a serious medical emergency. It is one of the six major venomous snakes of Taiwan and is not suitable for novice keepers. Never handle it without proper training, secure enclosures, and access to antivenom protocols.

The Pointed-scaled Pit Viper, also known as the turtle-jawed pit viper (Chinese alias 龟壳花蛇), has a triangular head about 1.5 times as long as wide. It is frequently confused with the harmless false turtle-jawed pit viper, which has a rounder head.

Chinese Name: Pointed-scaled Pit Viper (原矛头蝮)

Chinese Alias: 龟壳花蛇 (Turtle-jawed pit viper)

English Name: Pointed-scaled Pit Viper

Binomial: Protobothrops mucrosquamatus

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Serpentes

Family: Viperidae

Genus: Protobothrops

Species: Protobothrops mucrosquamatus

Distribution: China (Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Taiwan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu), and abroad in India, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

2 Physical Characteristics

An ideal adult measures 70–90 cm in total length with a tail around 17 cm, and weighs about 60 g. A clear identifying feature is the gray-brown belly covered with many spots.

The head is triangular with a slender neck and a relatively narrow snout, covered with fine scales and an inverted-V brown pattern. The dorsal surface is brown, with paired dark-brown blotches flanking the mid-line that join left and right into chain-like bands, below which are irregular smaller markings.

3 Habitat and Behavior

In the wild it favors hills and mountains, typically dense bamboo thickets or the edges of small streams. It is nocturnal and mostly active at night. Like most snakes it prefers warm, humid environments where its prey is most abundant, and it avoids open ground that offers no cover for ambushing.

It becomes dormant in extreme cold or heat, and autumn is its most active season as it forages heavily to build reserves for hibernation.

4 Husbandry and Breeding

In the wild it prefers damp, secluded conditions. In captivity, replicate its natural habits and provide a retreat space where it can hide — it likes to coil among woodpiles. Because its body is slender, it is agile when striking and capturing prey. Its diet includes fish, frogs, lizards, and birds.

The hibernation period runs from around the solar term Xiaoxue to the following Qingming, often using tree hollows or bamboo cavities as overwintering sites. It is oviparous, producing 5–13 eggs per clutch, incubated at natural temperatures with an incubation period of about 35–45 days.