#cottonhead

Photo by @gemfyre

A clumping perennial growing from underground rhizomes, endemic to the SW corner of Australia like all others in the genus. This is one of ten subspecies of aculeata, some of which are grown as ornamentals.

Insect-pollinated - some of which don't wait for the flower to open properly.

gaboon viper x puff adder: no common name

journals written as far back as 1976 speak of at least two known instances of hybridisation between the gaboon and the puff adder in the wild. the puff adder is common and widespread throughout africa, found in all habitats except true desert, rainforests and tropical alpine forests. gaboons can be found in rainforests, grasslands and woodlands, typically paralell to environments occupied by the puff adder. this means that their ranges often overlap and that the two are likely to encounter each other. the two however have opposite temperaments, making for an unusual hybrid; while the puff is known to be bad-tempered, territorial and defensive with a voracious appetite (and able to eat until it dies!), the gaboon is placid and slow-moving, only hunting when it needs to.

rhino viper x puff adder: nashpuff

the rhino viper occurs in forested areas and rarely ventures into woodlands, leading a more restricted lifestyle than the gaboon viper. again there is a stark contrast in temperament between the rhino and the puff; rhino vipers are placid, less so than gaboons, and alert their presence with loud hissing when approached, whereas the puff is more bad-tempered and quick. as of writing this there appears to be no records of wild “nashpuffs”, however one captive-bred individual has occurred. the one captive specimen inherited the puff’s temperament, behaving like a normal puff adder with threat displays and the typical puff appetite. the last update given stated that the nashpuff had grown to be around three feet long, preferred temperatures of 29/30C and only drank from mist sprays rather than a water bowl.

gaboon viper x rhino viper: gabino

another naturally-occuring hybrid, the gabino was first imported through a shipment of gaboon vipers wherein one female was gravid. these hybrids can be found in the wild where the geographic range of its parents overlaps; both the rhino and gaboon viper can be found in guinea, ghana, sudan, uganda and kenya within forests and woodlands. like its parents, the gabino is terrestrial and nocturnal and spends its days hiding beneath leaf litter, inside holes and in tangled tree branches. it also retains the placid nature of its parents but inherits more behavioural traits from the rhino viper. little is known about their venom composition, but it’s interesting to note that the rhino viper produces cytotoxic venom whereas the gaboon produces haemotoxic and neurotoxic venom.

gabino x gabino: f2 gabino

gabino vipers are fertile hybrids and thus can be crossed to produce second-generation gabinos. these animals tend to resemble either gaboons or rhinos more strongly, but none will exactly resemble one or the other. breeding of f2 gabinos appears to be rare - deon nell of apex predator park was lucky enough to have a gravid female (f1) who gave birth to 17 f2 neonates, and hellfire reptiles has managed to breed a few themselves, one individual of which is pictured above.

copperhead x cottonmouth: cottonhead

cottonheads are another hybrid that occur in the wild where the ranges of the parents overlap. the first captive-bred cottonhead was bred by mardi snipes of coastal reptiles, 2003, in a cottonhead breeding project. visually, the animal shows traits of both the copperhead and cottonmouth. it has the bulk, long tail and head shape of the cottonmouth, and the classic autumn colours and banded markings of the copperhead. there can be an underlying black tint to the copperhead colours.

canebreak x eastern diamondback: batwing