Atheris squamigera

Atheris squamigera is a venomous viper species endemic to west and central Africa.
There is a story behind this picture ...

I was setting a light trap to catch mosquitoes. I didn't do it very discreetly, moving the barns and grasses, removing the troublesome dead branches, ... I pick up a rather large dead branch to hang the light trap on, I run the cable along this branch and finally it's time to put the battery in and plug in the trap. I put the battery on the ground and there I discover with amazement that I have just put the battery literally 5cm from the head of the viper. I remain frozen, do not move my hand, I observe the viper who looked at me out of the corner of his eye. She doesn't look pissed off or in an attack posture. I also realize that the branch I used to hang the trap is planted in the ground right next to his head... In fact it's been at least 10 minutes since I could have been bitten hahaha. So I pulled my hand away very quickly and ran to the car to get my camera to take a portrait of her. I was so excited and on adrenaline that I missed all my photos hahaha... Here is the least bad of the series.