I often mountain bike around Prague in the Czech Republic. I keep meeting these wonderful creatures on many of my +/-summer rides. They often sit or very slowly attempt to cross bike paths. These paths are quite busy in the summer. So I often find myself blocking the path of other angry, shouting cyclists while I try to shoo these snakes back into the bushes so that they don't get trampeled or run over by the local angry mob of apathetic cyclists.
I'm trying to figure out whether I'm dealing with the common European adder (vipera berus) or whether this is some type of harmless grass snake. I don't have enough knowledge about reptiles to tell them apart.
Can anyone positively identify these snakes?
snake #1 ~20cm in length
snake #2 ~40cm (maybe 50 not sure) in length
I've seen a fatter one than these though the 40cm specimen was the longest .
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