The white-lipped pit viper, Trimeresurus albolabris, is one of the most common species of pit vipers found in southeastern parts of Asia, which includes some northern states of India. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, India is home to 17 species of pit viper; among these 17, the white-lipped pit viper is most commonly found in northern and northeastern parts of India.

The white-lipped pit viper is green in color like other green tree vipers, and the ventral body is pale yellow or whitish yellow in color. A light ventrolateral stripe is present in all males, but absent in females. The color of the tail is reddish-brown or reddish-maroon. The size of these snakes varies from 2-2.7 feet, and these snakes are viviparous by nature.

It’s very difficult for a snake lover in the southwestern part of India to encounter such a beautiful snake, but I find myself very lucky because I’m native to Uttarakhand, one of the northern states of India. I found this snake during the summer of 2013 in Uttarakhand.

The thing that surprised me the most was that I always thought pit vipers are found only on trees and sometimes on land, but this fellow was enjoying himself in a stream.

When I picked him up I noticed that its belly was fully loaded with small fishes. This is one of the main reasons I love snakes as I've been studing them for a long time, but they never stop surprising me.
Photo: Hazard-Bot. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.