Venomous Viper Bites Motorcycle Rider After Hitching Ride in Europe

A motorcycle-riding dad from Worthing, West Sussex, England is happy to be alive after a venomous hitchhiker took a bite of his leg. Dave Craker found himself in the hospital only a few weeks after returning from an epic European motorcycle trip. At the time, all he and the doctors knew was something probably bit him.

According to the story on Yahoo! news, in late July, he rode his motorcycle through the channel tunnel and into France, Spain, and Portugal before getting sick and heading home ahead of schedule. Aside from getting sick, everything went well, or so he thought.

A few weeks later on August 19, he rode the same motorcycle to Eastbourne Airbourne. During that ride, he suddenly felt a searing pain in his right leg, which later swelled so much that he couldn’t move it.

Not one to panic, he slept on it overnight, hoping it would be better in the morning. Unfortunately, that didn’t help, so he went to the hospital. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and he was sent home with antibiotics.

After 10 days of antibiotics, Mr. Craker still had not recovered fully. After noticing a foul smell coming from his motorcycle, he decided to take a closer look.

And that is when he saw liquid underneath his motorcycle. At first, he thought it was some sort of fluid from the bike, but it confused him — on a new bike?

To figure it out, he removed a side panel and discovered the mangled body of a venomous viper. Well, he took that body to the hospital and the staff agreed that his symptoms fit the snake. After administering antivenom, he recovered fully.

Can you imagine? You return from an epic motorcycle trip and several weeks later, a venomous viper bites you by a venomous hitchhiking snake that somehow hid in your motorcycle.

The kicker? This dad of two is a cancer survivor — he had just finished treatment.

What Kind of Viper Bit Him?

Experts are not positive which viper species decided to bite this motorcycle rider. But they say that it was most likely one of three possible species native to the areas where he traveled.

Iberian Cross Adder, Asp Viper, or Lataste’s Viper

Of the three, experts ruled out Lataste’s viper because it lacks the upturned snout they often sport. So, that leaves us with the Iberian cross adder or the asp viper.

The photos available in the original article don’t clarify it much. All three species are members of the Vipera genus and share many similarities. In addition, they are also highly variable — their patterns can vary between solid black and a traditional zigzag dorsal pattern over a lighter base color. If you look at iNaturalist, you’ll even see some with stripes along their entire body.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Ibonoses, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons – License / Original