Common Puff Adders

The African puff adder, also known as the common puff adder, is a highly venomous snake from the viper family. The snake is considered extremely dangerous; the Johannesburg zoo claims it is the species responsible for most of Africa's snake bite incidents in humans. The venom is cyotoxic and does damage to tissue. If bites are left untreated, death by organ damage is usually the result.

  1. Description

    • The common puff adder grows to be around 3 feet in length and has a thick, solid body type. Its head is large, flattened and triangular in shape and has large open nostrils. Its skin color ranges from almost black to pale shades of straw yellow with dark, rear-facing chevron patterns all along the snake's back. The fangs grow to almost an inch in length and are easily broken or lost when biting; the snake is able to regrow them.

    Habitat and Range

    • The puff adder is Africa's most common venomous snake and can be found from the tip of South Africa to as far north as Morocco and southern Arabia. The species is so widespread and abundant that it is easier to say where it cannot be found than where it can. It avoids the most extreme deserts, thickest forests and is not found over 8,200 feet above sea level. It is mainly terrestrial, but can be found in or near water.

    Diet and Predators

    • The snake is generally sedate and slow moving, so it catches its prey using ambush. It will lay in wait for a small mammal such as a rat or mouse to walk past. It can strike fast, at up to a third of its own body length, and its fangs alone can kill some prey outright from physical trauma. The snake does not keep hold of the prey, but instead waits until it has died before eating it. It has few predators because of its deadly venom but badgers, birds of prey, warthogs and larger snakes do all prey on the puff adder.

    Life Cycle

    • The African puff adder is a solitary species, only meeting up to breed. Males will compete with each other over a female, which they find by following pheromones that she releases. The snakes incubate eggs internally, so they give birth to live young and have litters of between 20 and 60 fully formed and deadly babies. These youngsters are on their own from birth and can look after themselves. The average lifespan for the puff adder in the wild is around 13 years.