A communal oviposition site of western whip snakes, Hierophis viridiflavus, was surveyed every June for 13 years (1990-1997; 2001-2005) at a hilly locality of central Italy (Oriolo Romano, province of Viterbo, about 400 m a.s.l.). The snakes were individually marked, and hence the individual histories of several specimens were assessed over more than one year. The oviposition site was a partially dilapidated building with stony boxes, surrounded by spiny shrubs. Overall, at the study site, 41 gravid females were captured over 13 years of study, together with five adult males and 189 newborn snakes. No non-gravid females were found. Hence, it seems that the study site is used by snakes solely for egg-laying. In total, 73 oviposition events occurred in the study area, and on average the study area was visited annually by 5.46 +/- 1.05 gravid females (range 4-7). Gravid females visited the study area for periods of 2.20 +/- 1.38 years (range 1-5 years); some individuals visited the study site in consecutive (up to three) years, others in alternate (up to five) years, and others at irregular intervals (up to four years). The communal oviposition site was not used preferentially by any specific size category of snakes, but every gravid female in the population, from those presumably young (around 110 cm in length or less) to those presumably old (longer than 120 cm) appeared to use it regularly for laying eggs. There was an effect of year on snake clutch size, but not on the mean body size of snakes. The criteria used by snakes for the selection of the study area as an oviposition site were 1) safe conditions, due to a scarcity of natural predators, and 2) adequate conditions for egg development in a area with resource scarcity for adequate oviposition sites for snakes.

The Dice Snake (Natrix tessellata) is an aquatic colubrid that is known for having a basically piscivorous diet and a female-biased sexual size dimorphism (larger females). The feeding habits of three populations of N. tessellata from Mediterranean streams in central Italy were studied. The three streams differed in terms of their water regimes, one being seasonal and two being perennial. More than 2,000 snake individuals were handled for food items, and 1,200+ prey items were collected. The percent of fed snakes was significantly influenced by the study area and by the interaction term between study area and season (i.e., by the hydric regime). Fishes accounted for over 90% of the snake diets at all study areas, the most common prey species being cyprinids. Overall, the three snake populations had similar taxonomic diet composition. There was a significant ontogenetic change in diets in all populations. There were also significant intersexual differences in prey composition, with the females taking more Scardinius erythrophtalmus fishes and more anurans, and the males more Leuciscus s. muticellus. The various fish species found at the three study areas (15 species) were classified in terms of six independent ecological characteristics in order to investigate what factors make a given prey species suited or not for Dice Snakes. It appeared that N. tessellata selected mainly fish species that were gregarious, small to medium sized, active foraging, diurnal, and not using mud as preferred substratum. We also found that the seasonal desiccation of the stream-bed of one study area caused a shift in the diet composition of these snakes, with males and juveniles being the categories where the seasonal dietary shift was more evident. Males preyed especially on the fishes S. erythrophtalmus and Leuciscus cephalus, and the juveniles preyed upon Leuciscus s. muticellus, whereas in spring their primary prey was Alburnus a. alborella.

Aspects of the ecology of a suburban population of rainbow lizards, Agama agama Linnaeus 1758, have been studied in Malindi, a coastal locality of SE Kenya. Four different family groups were monitored on a wall transect 120 m long. Each group constituted a dominant male (i.e. a brightly coloured and aggressive individual) and three to four adult females, but in one of the studied groups a subordinate male was also seen. Both sexes were active in the morning, and peak activity fell between 10.00 and 11.30 hours. Dominant males used elevated perches significantly more often than subordinate males and females. The diet consisted of terrestrial arthropods, and most of the prey eaten were beetles (6–8 mm long). The foraging strategy used by rainbow lizards was to eat small insects at very short time intervals. The lizards used sit‐and‐wait foraging, remaining motionless until the prey was <5 cm away. The rainbow lizards studied did not feed upon plant material.

Melanistic adders (Vipera berus) have been considered to be ecologically superior to cryptic ones in cold climates because of their higher thermoregulatory efficiency. However, a popular hypothesis states that black snakes should be more exposed than cryptic ones to visually oriented predation, and that the frequency of both colour morphs within a given population is maintained by the equilibrium existing between the reproductive advantage and the higher risk of predation of the melanistic morph (ESS model). Moreover, because of this higher risk of predation, it has been suggested that black adders should essentially inhabit forested zones, where they can escape from visually oriented predation. To test this hypothesis, we performed a field study on habitat choice by a polymorphic population of adders. Our data showed that habitat choice by adders strongly depended on seasonality, but not on colour pattern. Adders almost always selected open habitat in spring (during the mating period), and a variety of habitats (including forested zones) in summer, in relation to their individual feeding and reproductive status. However, in any season there were significant differences between the habitat selection of cryptic and melanistic adders.