A short holiday in the Auvergne region, France, delivered an unexpected present...a freshly killed asp viper (
Vipera aspis)!
It was presumably the victim of a cat because of the location (on top of stone wall) and the mortal wound (crushed neck).
I cut off the head and took it with me back to Holland in a glass jar filled with salt.
After treatment by bluebottle larvae, some cutting to remove the skin, short boiling, and incubation in a solution with Biotex, the fleshy parts were removed. Some pieces of the lower jaw have lost their attachments so I have a few loose parts now.
Not all ligaments and tendons have been removed and treatment with (nearly) boiling water and incubations were very short because if the treatment is too harsh the skull will disintegrate in to several pieces, and I will try to avoid that as good as I can.
The viper skull itself is tiny in comparison with the big arcs of the lower jaws. The teeth are needle sharp. A surprise was that on one side their was an extra venom-delivering fang (2 instead of one, see pics).
It looked more lively with its body removed...
The bony parts are now being whitened in a hydrogen peroxide solution. Pictures of the finalised skull -when I hopefully have puzzled all the bits back together again- will follow later.
Fun, fun, fun!
Cheers,
Tom