There back! must be spring

[gwaithcoed]

Turned back the piece of carpet that I have covering the compost heap and found these that had come out of hibernation. This time there were 3 lots in different places under the carpet, but I only were able to take a photo of the two. No idea why they call them slow worms considering the speed at which they disappeared.


Alan.

 

[ColeyS1]

Thats me set for nightmares tonight :lol:

 

[Max Power]

Excellent, never seen those before, are they found throughout Britain ?

 

[Digit]

All over, but can either rare or common in different localities. If you're gardener you're lucky, you shouldn't be having a slug problem with these around.

 

[BMac]

Like Alan, I have never seen those before either. They are very attractive. Would they bite you?

Brendan

 

[Harbo]

They are fairly common where I live - they are really legless lizards and the do not bite.
If scared too much they leave their tail behind - but I have never seen that?

Rod

 

[BMac]

Thanks Rod.

I've known about them all my life but had never seen one. They looked much bigger than I imagined.

Brendan

 

[MikeH]

We get loads on a bit of ground right behind my garden, they also live under my workshop! Great creatures and always brightens my day when we find them. I have to be really careful when I cut the grass out there.

Not sure about your comment on the slugs Digit, either we have far too many slugs for them to eat or our slow worms have a far easier food source!

 

[Digit]

It's all about balance Mike, if they'd eaten them all they'd have to go somewhere else! :lol:
Worms and slugs are supposed to be their diet, never having seen one munching I have to take the expert's word for it though.

Roy.

 

[Eric The Viking]

It's all about balance Mike, if they'd eaten them all they'd have to go somewhere else! :lol:
Worms and slugs are supposed to be their diet, never having seen one munching I have to take the expert's word for it though.

Roy.

I kept two slow worms as pets, as a child. They like to eat small, yellow slugs in particular (we used to hunt for them in the garden!).

You find them particularly in areas with sandy heathland (we lived in Surrey). They're about nine inches or a foot long at most, smooth and often warm to the touch (although cold-blooded), and fascinating to watch. I've never seen one lose a tail, but I've seen several 'truncated', which have evidently done so previously. I believe it slowly grows back, but that they can't do the trick repeatedly.

The skin patterning can be amazing, especially after they've just moulted. The females are slightly wider. In the first picture I think there are three females and one male (top right). If I'm right he's also got a clear thin dark line along his back, whereas the females are more mottled/patterned. It's 40 years since I kept them though, so I might have it the wrong way round!

The best time to see them is mid-morning, as, being cold-blooded, they like to warm up in the sun before going hunting.

 

[devonwoody]

The other year I took some plastic sacks up the refuse tip and three days later I found one of those in a sainsbury shopping bag, I think it had crept out of the sacks and then later climbed in with the shopping. The wife was a bit fazed.

 

[bugbear]

Turned back the piece of carpet that I have covering the compost heap and found these that had come out of hibernation. This time there were 3 lots in different places under the carpet, but I only were able to take a photo of the two. No idea why they call them slow worms considering the speed at which they disappeared.


Alan.

Marvellous! Thanks for posting that.

BugBear

 

[Digit]

The 'Slow' bit is a corruption of the middle English 'Slay', as in worm killers.

Roy.

 

[adidat]

i used to have a pet one it was called sid and it lived for 20 years in a glass tank, my mum would bring it a slug every morning.

adidat

 

[devonwoody]

At the present time we are putting out bits of knitting wool and small lumps of cotton wool, the chaffinches and sparrows are gathering it up for their nests.

 

[MickCheese]

I think you will find Slow Worms are protected as they are getting rare.

Mick

 

[Digit]

They are. Schedule no 5 1981, as are Grass Snakes and Adders.

Roy.

 

[gwaithcoed]

Last August we had our two Grandchildren down for their holidays.As they were playing in the front room they shouted that a car had pulled up outside and was taking photo's of a snake that had come through the front gate.
We live in a lane and as the gentleman was coming past the house he saw the snake in the middle of the road and got out to take some photo's. By the time I had got outside the snake was trying to get in a crevice in the stone wall. I grabbed it behind its head and pulled it out only to find it was an adder. I held it while the gentleman took a few shots then took it in for the grandchidren to look at. Afterwards I released it in the wood at the top of our garden. When I got back to wash my hands they smelt horrible, like rotten flesh, and I am sure I could smell it for hours after.

Some weeks later my wife and I were watching Country File on the TV and the presenter and his guide found an adder beneath a flat stone.The guide picked it up and was showing the markings on it and explaining about its habitat etc and then went on about the smell that it was giving off, and apparantly this is part of its defence mechanism to put off any predator.

Alan.