How do vipers eat

Vipers tend to eat what they can catch, but the specifics of their diets depend on where they live, how big the individual snake is and the relative size of the prey. Rodents are a common prey for vipers. Very small vipers, usually youngsters, prey on newborn mice or rodents who are still quite little -- the prey must be small enough for the snake to swallow.

Snakes such as the Gaboon viper, Bitis gabonica, hide among the leaves on the forest floor and wait for rodents to get close enough, then strike and kill with lightening speed. Vipers will make a meal of most small mammals that cross their paths, as long as the size is right. They commonly eat rabbits, bats, shrews and moles. Most adult members of the viper family also eat smaller snakes, including other vipers of the same species.

Read our cookies policy. Vipers include some of the deadliest snakes. A viper has a stocky body, a wide head, and long, hinged fangs at the front of its mouth for injecting venom. The venom causes a very painful wound that can be fatal. Vipers target warm-blooded prey, such as rats and mice, and some hunt during the day. One group, the pit vipers, are mainly active at night. They have a pair of heat-sensitive pits between the eyes and mouth for detecting the body warmth of prey.

Most vipers live in the tropics, but some are found in cooler climates. The majority of vipers give birth to live young, but a few species lay eggs. That lets them know when danger—or food—is nearby. Snakes have several other ways to detect a snack.

Openings called pit holes in front of their eyes sense the heat given off by warm-blooded prey. And bones in their lower jaws pick up vibrations from rodents and other scurrying animals.

When they do capture prey, snakes can eat animals up to three times bigger than their head is wide because their lower jaws unhinge from their upper jaws. About once a month snakes shed their skin, a process called ecdysis that makes room for growth and gets rid of parasites. They rub against a tree branch or other object, then slither out of their skin head first, leaving it discarded inside-out. Most snakes lay eggs, but some species—like sea snakes—give live birth to young. Very few snakes pay any attention to their eggs, with the exception of pythons, which incubate their eggs.

There are roughly a hundred snake species listed by the IUCN Red List as endangered, typically due to habitat loss from development. Most snakes live on land, but there are about 70 species of snakes that live in the Indian and Pacific oceans. All rights reserved. The red spotted pit viper is a venomous snake found primarily in Asia. How snakes hunt Snakes also have forked tongues, which they flick in different directions to smell their surroundings. Habits About once a month snakes shed their skin, a process called ecdysis that makes room for growth and gets rid of parasites.

Sea snakes Most snakes live on land, but there are about 70 species of snakes that live in the Indian and Pacific oceans.