Snakes - keep out of their way and they will almost certainly keep out of yours
Some people worry about snakes in Cyprus. Should you? Are they a real risk?
We’ve only ever seen two snakes – one that slithered across a mountain track in front of us and one that had fallen into a swimming pool of a part-built villa in Peristerona (see above).
What are the facts?
There are eight species of snake in Cyprus, of which three are venomous. And of those, only one, the blunt nosed viper is dangerous to humans.
Snakes have two hibernation periods. In mountainous areas, hibernation begins in early November and is over by the end of April, while you can see snakes until the middle of January in coastal areas.
Should you worry about snakes?
Statistics point up that in Cyprus you are 1,000 times more likely to die in a road accident than from a snake bite. There’s no doubt, man has a far greater impact on snakes than vice versa.
If you should see a snake, stop and stand still. Don’t ever try to to touch or catch a snake. The snake will almost certainly go away, as it’s much more frightened of you than you are of it.
If bitten, don’t panic as the shock could kill you. Clean the wound with water and get to a hospital as quickly as possible. All hospitals on the island have antivenin on site.
It has been estimated that 16 to 20 people are bitten on the island every year, with the last fatality coming ten years ago when a Cypriot woman was bitten by a blunt nosed viper in Protaras.
If you feel at risk, you can buy a powerful repellent called Snake Buster. It is a wholly natural repellent and does not harm either snakes or household pets, and, like most repellents, it works on the principle of inhibiting the animal’s sensory perception. With one application to garden borders, entranceways, garages, woodpiles, sheds, playgrounds and edges of swimming pools, it can repel a blunt nosed viper and all other Cyprus snakes for a period of up to eight weeks.
Snakes you might find in Cyprus
The Worm Snake: Looks like an earthworm but can grow to about 30 centimetres and is either pink or beige in colour. Hunts only at night as the strong sun would kill it. Found in gardens and fields.
The Large Whip Snake: This is the most common of all snake species in Cyprus and can reach a length of two and a half metres. Initially olive green, with small brown lines. When mature, the colour changes to blue-black. Non-venomous, it kills via constriction. It has one peculiarity – it eats other snakes, including the blunt nosed viper. Can be found all over the island in fields, forests and even up trees where it raids birds nests.
The Cyprus Whip Snake: This egg-laying snake only exists in Cyprus. It’s non-venomous and, like the large whip snake, it changes colour as it matures to become almost black. Found only in forests, mainly by streams.
The Cyprus Grass Snake: The rarest and most endangered of Cypriot snakes, it emits a foul-smelling secretion that could clear a small village in a minute, along with any predators, if they feel threatened. Can swim very well and dines regularly on frogs and fish. It is non-venomous and is found only in the Paralimni Lake area. Thought to be almost extinct.
The Coin Snake: This non-venomous snake is commonly confused with the blunt nosed viper. It will hiss loudly if approached and will strike quickly. It lives on a diet of lizards and mice and can be found along the coast as well as on the higher reaches of the mountains.
The Cat Snake: The slowest of the snakes, it hunts at night and if threatened will wriggle into a ring-like shape, raise itself up like a coil and hiss like a cat. It’s venomous and should be left well alone. Never reported to have bitten a human though. Found in coastal areas and in the Troodos mountains.
The Montpellier Snake: This venomous snake has coarse scales that produce a grinding noise when the snake slithers across the grass. It lives in open fields or forests, in both coastal and mountain areas and hunt and kill in a manner similar to a Cobra, raising its body up to one third of its length from the ground, then striking quickly, mainly against lizards. Again, never reported to have bitten a human.
The Blunt Nosed Viper: The most dangerous snake on the island, it is extremely venomous and is so perfectly camouflaged that it’s very hard to spot, so be extra careful when walking. Loves swimming pools when the dry season is at its height. Get to a hospital fast if bitten. Found all over Cyprus, mainly by streams.
Have you seen a snake in Cyprus? Tell us about it!
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Hi Mike,
Our daughter Megan (10) was bitten in the hillside of Tsada in April 2007. She was in hospital for a week. The doctors didn’t seem 100% competent in dealing with it and had to constantly refer to a specialist in Limassol regrding the correct antedote levels. This suggested that cases were releatively infrequent. It was a baby blunt nose viper which are dangerous especially in early summer after hibernation when they are still a bit dopey. Black snakes can be seen everywhere but are harmless to humans and are believed keeo vipers away. Best not to kill these and encourage it is better to keep them around.
Hi Mike,
Im going to Cyprus this summer to pafos for 6 weeks, should i be worried of the red nose viper? my nan owns a villa infront of the melons field i think its called, is there any snakes there that could kill me?
Hi Adam
I don’t know about red nose vipers – that’s not something I’ve ever heard about in Cyprus!
The only snake that’s considered trouble here is the blunt nosed viper. If you get bitten by one, seek medical help, rapidly.
Having said that, I think it’s pretty unlikely you’ll even see a snake, let alone get killed by one. The facts are only one person has died as a result of a snake in Cyprus in the last ten years.
Bear in mind also that snakes are pretty wary of humans. If they know you’re around, they’ll leg it. Well, slither it actually! If you do come across one (and we’ve only done so twice) keep out of its way and it’ll certainly keep out of yours.
Enjoy your holiday and relax, Cyprus is a beautiful island.
Mike
We saw a large black snake come down out of an almond tree in our garden at Laneia the other morning….how do we encourage ???? Someone said to put milk out for it, is this correct ?
I’ve heard putting milk out encourages them – and that a big benefit of a black snake (probably a Whip Snake) is that it’ll keep the vipers away.
This house we have been renovating over the last 11 months has not been lived in for the past few years and we seem to be coming across a few snakes….the big one I mentioned the other day, previous to that I saw a pink snake I identified as a harmless worm snake about 30cm's long and tonight I was cleaning a bank in the garden with my mini-digger and a long thin whip snake shot out, looked very simular to the snake in your photo above, what type of snake is that and is it harmless ?
I have two small children so it is a bit worrying…… All the neighbors have cats so is it strange to see so many snakes ? Do you have more photos to help identify them as harmless or not ?
Thanks for the info.
Steve
What you’re describing sounds very like a Whip Snake. They’ve often up to about 2m long, 3-4cm in diameter, black and shiny. And they can really shift!
In my experience they’re very timid. They occasionally turn up in our garden, but you can never get close to them because they can feel the vibrations of your feet through the ground and head off rapidly.
I’d suggest they’re pretty harmless unless in some way they get cornered, but generally they’re regarded as a good thing to have around.
To find out more, suggest you visit the snake park at Kouklia. The guy there is very friendly and knowledgeable. See Kouklia Snake Park article on this blog.
Hope this helps,
Mike
Hi all
I was jogging around Limassol’s hills earlier in June and I literally had to jump over a huge blunt nose viper not to stumble in it as i was running super fast down the hill! I guess my shoes just landed a couple of centimeters next to the snake before jumping another 2 meters away shocked! I thought i was hallucinating as even did not know about snakes in Cyprus. After the initial shock I came back to have a serious look at it. Back to the hotel I went on the web to looked for pictures: it was a blunt nose viper, no doubt about it. I spent 2-3 minutes looking at it: the incredible beast was as large as my arm (upper part) – amazing – but was not able to determine the lenght as it was quietly standing still. An unforgettable experience and probably also a lucky one (to live this and not be bitten)! Wanted to share this with you.
Photographed another snake today up a tree in my garden. I sent you the photos on email and hope you can identify it for me.
I cant find an official site where photos can be sent to identify snakes in Cyprus, there is one for birds and scorpions but not snakes.
Thanx Steve
Hi Steve
We’ve both scratched our heads and we think its a young large whip snake – up to 18 months old. As they get older, they turn darker in colour.
If we’re right, its a non-venomous shy snake that lives off rats and mice it strangles and then eats.
Best, Mike
Hi Mike.
You were right thanx. Managed to get hold of "snake George" and he confirmed its a black whip snake, it will turn black at about 3 years old and its not poisonous. Very good to have as a friend in the garden so we are trying to encourage it by putting cheese and milk out for it.
Its sad that many snakes are killed because people cant recognise them and most of them are harmless.
Cheers Steve
We had a very newly hatched snake appear on our garden path 3 days ago -it is a very wet cold January. Does anyone know if this is a common occurrence? It seems to be the wrong season for baby snakes, have I got it wrong?
Comments from anyone are most welcome.
Dont think its very common at all, they are mostly all sleeping and generally I’ve never seen them until the weather really warms up after March
I’m staying in friends house near the sea, there is a pool in a yard. I found a snake twice while i’m here. Once i saw inside of the yard crawling on the wall of the house. It was pretty long, almost black and orange colour. The second one i found today in my room :/ i took a video of this snake, i would like to find out what kind of snake it was.
we had a diamond back snake on our patio,which we killed as we have cats and a dog , we are worried our pets will get hurt or worse.How can we keep them away?we did panic as our kitten saw it before we did.Also we are now having to remove hairy catipillars that are dangerous to our pets . Thankyou for any help
,
I was meeting silver colour snack on my roud. Can you tell me about this kind of snacks please. I live in cyprus and my gmail is dorlana@inbox.lt
Hi Dorlana
I’m sorry I can’t help with that – I can’t think of any silver coloured snakes.
Mike
Hello, I’m supposed to be moving to Cyprus in around a month to study for at least a year, I’m studying at the new English university there, which is located in larnaca, is there anything I should be wary of or avoid around that area for animals? How offer are poisonous spiders seen there? And is there anything I can do to reduce the chance of close contact with these?
Matt
Hi Matt
I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time at UCLan! I don’t think you’l have any problems at all with either spiders or snakes. Yes there are some ‘interesting’ insects here. For example, this year we’ve had a lot of scorpions in our garden. If they sting you, it really hurts, but its not life threatening. The only potential killer I’m aware of is the blunt nosed viper snake. But even then, if you get to hospital pronto they can give you stuff to get over it. Just use a bit of common sense. For example, don’t go walking in the countryside through vegetation in open shoes. (When you can see the ground clearly, no problem. If you can’t, be awake.) Also bear in mind that most of the potential nasties will work harder to get out of your way than to attack you.
Enjoy!
Mike
I LIVED IN LIMASSOL FOR 3 YEARS WHILST IN THE FORCES AND IN ALL THAT TIME I ONLY EVER SAW ONE SNAKE WHICH WAS NEAR THE NAAFI SHOP. IT WAS APPROX 1.5M LONG, SLIM, AND BLACK AND, AFTER VIEWING YOUR ARTICLE, I ASSUME IT WAS AN ADULT WHIP. THE KIDS THOUGHT IT WAS COOL TO SEE A REAL SNAKE. I DIDN’T ATTEMT TO GO NEAR IT AS WE WERE NOT SURE IF IT WAS DANGEROUS OR NOT. THERE USED TO BE A SIGN ON THE AKROTIRI GOLF COURSE WARNING PLAYERS THAT IF THEIR BALL WENT UNDER A BUSH JUST LEAVE IT WHERE IT WAS AND DON’T RISK SNAKE BITES.