Top 10 Snake Moments of 2023

By Plato Stefanopoulos

I haven’t been looking for snakes for that long, but I can confidently say that 2023 was the undisputed GOAT year of herping for me. Which is ironic, because that title was supposed to go to 2022. While several amazing things happened back then as well, 2023 was that, tenfold. To put things into perspective, a switch flipped in me a few days before the day of the accident in early June 2022 - I just kind of became… better. And when the accident happened, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to put my newfound skill to good use.

Fast forward to nine months later, I picked myself back up and was ready for big things. However, I decided to implement a different approach, wherein I did not go out as often, like in 2022, but made less, more calculated outings count. A few additional things to note are that the spring of 2023 was the longest and most incredible I’ve ever seen weather-wise, road cruising didn’t work, I discovered the wonders of tin flipping and I became considerably more eager to exit my comfort zone and try new things.

With so many showstoppers, new discoveries, incredible moments in the field, alone and with friends, and universally recognized solid finds in general, it was extremely difficult for me to pick a list (while in 2021 & 2022, I barely had enough to fill the top 5, let alone 10), and no matter how I arrange it, I feel like things are still missing. I tried to balance out all the aforementioned aspects to make a balanced list. Also, for the first time, I didn’t include only a single snake in each entry, but sometimes multiple, or populations. Without stalling any further, here is my list.

10

Adult Eryx Double Flip

The javelin sand boa was always a snake that had given me a hard time. Due to 2022’s very late spring, by the time their activity peak commenced, I was already bedridden with my legs broken, so I lost my chance to target them. I had many failed attempts at looking for them in the early 2023 peak, but in the May/June transition, I got in front of a giant storm front in the Metro-Athens area, and herped around it. Upon visiting the site where I had found my first two (juveniles) in 2021, I lost an adult down a hole, and then double-flipped a pair. These were my first ever adults of the species I’d gotten a good look at. The male (in shed) was also fairly decent-sized, pushing 50 cm.

Eryx jaculus

9

Attica quatuorlineata finishing touches

The four-lined rat snake is not an easy snake in Attica peninsula, and it may even be localized. In 2022, through my own hard work I managed to find one at an old spot me and Alex first went to in 2020. I tragically missed that individual from inside my hand, and saw it once again about an hour after the failed capture, where it escaped again, and I found nothing besides rustling sounds in future visits. During my 2023 spring visit, I also heard the same characteristic rustling, but I decided to explore even further, where I found another hibernaculum, and missed a second quatuorlineata from inside my hands, not without injuring myself of course. I was extremely demotivated until the final rain event of “spring” in late June, when I felt like I knew exactly what to do. And I pulled it off. But not without missing a second adult!!!

Elaphe quatuorlineata

8

Pelion Perfect Picturata

After the Old Trickery survey, Stamatis and I herped the Pelion peninsula. After some solid finds and failing to road cruise, Charis, the legend himself, was kind enough to provide us with a Natrix natrix spot. After missing many, I knew I had to lose the clothes. A few minutes after throwing myself on the asphalt to catch a male picturata in a concrete stream, I saw a large black snake swimming in the shaded part of a ditch. I quickly jumped in the stream, got mud up to my knees, but I had a stunning female picturata grass snake in my hand! I handed the snake to Stamatis to climb up out of the ditch, took a good look at it, and it was by far the most perfect mainland picturata I had ever seen. And not only that, but it also wasn’t tiny. Oh my!

Natrix natrix

7

Dream caspius (2 captures)

Prior to Alex’s return from Lesvos in the spring, I had conceived the idea of “Phthiotis Phlipping Phantasy”, basically a cover flipping extravaganza in the grasslands, which was likely to produce a lot of snakes, especially big Caspian whipsnakes, something I was dying to see more of. We made our fantasy a reality in April, where among others we flipped a large adult caspius, and then another one in a 7-story tin mansion. While we didn’t realize it at first, this snake wasn’t just big - it was massive! While photographing this incredible animal, we watched the entire process of a huge thunderstorm coming towards us before it absolutely obliterated us. Part of the reason why this snake was so awesome was the location - somewhere I had been dying to find big caspius since 2021. Fast forward to one month and two days later, I visited again, only to find this amazing snake once again, utilizing the same pieces of tin. This time with a significantly healthier body weight and a healed damaged labial, probably from a vole bite.

Dolichophis caspius

6

Lifer smooth snake

I spent the better part of the late spring and early summer of 2022 targeting the smooth snake in montane central and Northern Greece. I found just about every other snake between 900-1300 asl in that time except Coronella, and then, a year later, it hit me - if I go high enough in elevation that there isn’t much else to find, my chances of finding Coronella will increase. And it would seem that I was right in my assessment.

Coronella austriaca

5

Lifer Balkan cross adder

While the rarest snake in Greece is a nuanced topic, most people seem to agree that the title belongs to Vipera berus bosniensis, a glacial relic restricted to a few mountaintops in the Northern fringes of Greece. After two years of cancellations, I was finally going. It was a hot August 7th. Berus habitat is always nice and cool, though. After completing the 7-hour drive from Athens to the Serrai-Drama area, and conducting an unproductive afternoon-evening herp in the lowlands, Antia and me crashed at Caterina’s place. The following morning, I made the additional 2.5hr drive to the nearby known locality, probably the hardest spot for the species, as the others saw a lot of potential for their own, non-herp targets there and decided we should all visit. I wasn’t very hopeful. However, with a couple non-snake lifers to start the day, I was feeling optimistic. Not an hour into the search, I found some amazing sheets of tin, flipped one and sure enough, there it was, a juvenile female adder coiled up underneath. The adrenaline rush was immediate and extreme. Having stupidly left my hook in my car, i was forced to catch the snake in a god-boss manner.

Vipera berus bosniensis

4

Fully melanistic dice snakes

In the dog days of summer, I visited a classic Natrix locality for the second time that year (this was my fourth year visiting). A few minutes after arriving in the morning, I saw a small-ish, indistinct, dark snake standing still at the sunny part of that section of stream. I performed LeGrabTM, only to realize that I had an adult male fully melanistic Natrix tessellata in my hand. After some sub-par photography and releasing the snake, I found a few more melanistic juveniles. What? This morph is insanely rare in Greece, and I found multiple individuals in a single day and missed them for all those years. Are these dice snakes continuously stocked like the ichthyofauna there? Those are questions that could... should be answered.

Natrix tessellata

3

Attica caspius recapture

On May 1, 2023, I visited the spot where I had gotten my hands on my first ever caspian whipsnake one year before, almost to the day. When I carefully flipped THE piece, I uncovered and swiftly grabbed a beautiful adult caspian whip snake - but I couldn’t help but immediately notice. The upturned snout, the split labial… it was her! Over a year later, one of, if not the most influential snakes I’d ever seen in my life was there to see me again, and she was looking great! This recapture was very special to me and made me feel a way I hadn’t felt in a while. Hope I’ll get to see her in 2024 as well!

Dolichophis caspius

2

Life-saving grass snake

I had major post-recovery issues after the accident, namely chronic pain in my left, dislocated fibula - so much so that for a while I thought I wouldn’t have what it takes to even get out in the field, let alone catch snakes successfully. To keep things brief, after some imaging tests, while some obvious causes of pain were detected, nothing immediately or completely detrimental was found. After physiotherapy targeting very specific and obscure muscle groups, and the coming of spring, I started going out again. Thankfully, there was no major pain, however one thing was missing. I had always dreamed of catching giant grass snakes since first learning about their existence in books and trip reports. However, I had never actually found a true giant (over 140 cm) before. During an early March habitat hiking session in Attica, after missing several Montpellier snakes, I knew that something good was cooking. I was hiking an impeccable bramble edge when I saw a large grass snake basking. I immediately dove for it and managed to get my hands on the giant reptile before it could even react. Needless to say, I was extremely happy. But this was far more than just an awesome find. Catching this snake single-handedly made me start moving on. This snake could have easily made number 1.

Natrix natrix

Honorable mentions

Giant Hierophis gemonensis

Nothing more than a strange want I had for a while after some serious FOMO. Also, it was found with Antia at a good spot I’ve found myself and where it was half-basking, which is probably the silliest way to find a snake. Either way, it was an awesome snake, and getting hands on it felt like tying loose ends.

Hierophis gemonensis

Giant Platyceps najadum

It seems as if every year I am surprised by just how big these seemingly small snakes can actually grow. I feel like 2023 was the last one. I found this massive male, by far the biggest one I’ve ever seen with Charis at Messogeia in April, then a second time a month later, and it was perfectly healthy, which was great to see. Always great to see an exceptional individual of a common species thriving!

Platyceps najadum

GOAT Vipera ammodytes

The largest and most beautiful nose-horned viper I’ve ever seen. It would be criminal if this absolute screamer wasn’t featured here. Also, this snake was found alongside a female viper, 7 Caspian whip snakes and two Dahl’s whip snakes.

Vipera ammodytes

Giant Elaphe quatuorlineata from a classified location

When I was with Alex in the car at some point this year, we were discussing the ideal way we’d want to see a four-lined snake. While he said he didn’t mind, my request was very specific: In *REDACTED* prefecture, while walking a creek, in the dog days of summer, preferably with the snake so far out in the open that it assumes defensive posture instead of attempting to flee upon encountering it. There is nothing more to say other than that my wish was granted, and this long-awaited dream of mine was realized, with an amazing, massive female individual no less! It was quite poetic. Now all I need is to find a huge adult on the road.

Elaphe quatuorlineata

Aetolo-Acarnanian Zamenis longissimus party

When I traveled to Aetolia-Acarnania this spring, I was mostly hoping to see a Balkan racer, and wasn’t expecting much due to how unfamiliar with the general area I am and my previous Ls there. While the species was in the back of my mind, I never would have expected that I would find 3 Aesculapian snakes in 24 hours! It was so perfect too, the first one (“subadult”) was found under natural cover at a spot which I had discovered and had given away, where it was found by others and not me (FOMO), the second (adult female) was found in habitat, on the crawl, which was a bucket list item for me, and the third one (adult male) was found at a completely new spot, inside discarded car parts. Needless to say I was left utterly flummoxed that this had happened in an area where they are (in comically large quotes) “rare”.

Zamenis longissimus

Attica caspius triple flip

A huge goal of mine is to better understand the enigmatic distribution of Dolichophis caspius in Attica. This spring, as early as March, I was back in the grasslands, far away from my known locality, and looking. After hours of back-breaking cover flipping, I finally found a juvenile under a piece of tin (escaped) along with pieces of the shed skin of a huge adult, which told me one thing - I was there too early. Fast forward to 3 weeks later, my buddy Alex was finally back from Lesvos and we were ready to hit this tin again, together. As we lifted the piece we saw a pile of caspius and just stared at them in disbelief, until they took off and we attempted to grab them. Thanks to Alex’s prowess in the field and our synergy, we were able to get hands on all 3 snakes. It would go without saying that we were both over the moon. This would have made the top 10 but Attica caspius is becoming quite redundant (even though it’s an extremely compelling project which I don’t plan on ending).

Dolichophis caspius

And finally…

1

Malpolon trickeriensis

Ever since I first started getting into looking for snakes, I was always amazed by huge snakes on small islands. Bo Stille’s Aesculapian snakes on Paxos were a fine example of this FOMO, and I often dreamed about finding record-breaking snakes on small islands, thinking it would never happen. Fast forward to Old Trickery with Stamatis, our god-boss herping techniques allowed us to capture one of the longest recorded Montpellier snakes ever, and it was also a first record for the island. It was one of the most incredible, electrifying feelings ever finding this snake, and I let out an absolutely primal scream. Overall, this is arguably my most badass snake find yet and I think it deserves the number 1 spot.

Malpolon insignitus