Adders, Grass snakes in my garden

[Jesse]

My garden boarders my self home grown cover and wood piles and wood chip piles, cover is now about 10 years old and has just reached canopy closure, mixed evergreen and deciduous trees, very diverse species mix of trees, I also maintain a variety of different grass heights where it still grows, the range of wildlife is now vast, Owls, Fox, Badger , Deer, Small lizards, lots of snakes. Last year was the first time I had noticed them with possibly 20 to 30 sightings , this year starting this month its reached the point that I now have to be very careful when walking outside, they are fantastic but could they kill a Jack Russel, Found one again just now while out with one of me dogs , dog did not see it and the Adder (i think) was eating a Toed so had it mouth full. Sent some photos to another member and hopefully he will post. Great to see them but why so many or is it just one or two that i keep seeing.

[agg221]

Go careful when you disturb it then. They may well be laying eggs in there due to the heat.

 

Yes - we dig it out in winter and then leave them alone the rest of the year - check for snakes and slow worms when we add anything to the top. We tend to walk down there for a look fairly often (daughters really like watching them) and they've got used to it enough that they don't immediately clear off.

 

Alec

[felixthelogchopper]

Yes - we dig it out in winter and then leave them alone the rest of the year - check for snakes and slow worms when we add anything to the top. We tend to walk down there for a look fairly often (daughters really like watching them) and they've got used to it enough that they don't immediately clear off.

 

Alec

 

I used to enjoy watching grass snakes hunting frogs and toads in my parents pond when I was a kid, and I was forever disturbing slow worms when I was looking for redworms to use for bait from the compost heap. I think kids who never see stuff like that really miss out, regardless of how many I-phones and X-boxes they have.

[Jesse]

Thanks for all that, thats great information from all, i didn't think grass snakes got that big, are they venomous ? i will try and get TMT to post photos of the others , they look different, but it does not help being colour blind, is it eggs they lay in the wood chip and i assume its June when they emerge.

[nepia]

Thanks for all that, thats great information from all, i didn't think grass snakes got that big, are they venomous ? i will try and get TMT to post photos of the others , they look different, but it does not help being colour blind, is it eggs they lay in the wood chip and i assume its June when they emerge.

 

 

No, not venomous; harmless to us and to be encouraged. The adder is Britain's only venomous snake but is also to be encouraged just because it's supposed to be here.

[paullen]

One of my favourite childhood memories was tramping down my nans garden to hunt for slow worms under the old radiator, one day I picked up the radiator and saw a dirty gurt adder under it. Ran all the way back :-) since then I've had two snakes as pets. I'd love a nice wildlife plot, I have to settle with attracting birds in my little plot.

[agg221]

Thanks for all that, thats great information from all, i didn't think grass snakes got that big, are they venomous ? i will try and get TMT to post photos of the others , they look different, but it does not help being colour blind, is it eggs they lay in the wood chip and i assume its June when they emerge.

 

Grass snakes can get pretty big - the largest ones I've seen at our place are about 5' long. They eat frogs and and toads for preference but will take a mouse if they are hungry. They only eat about 8-10 times a year so have negligible impact.

 

They have recently been discovered to be venomous, but are incapable of injecting the venom, even into their prey, so are harmless to people although they can produce a foul smelling musk if you scare them. Most of the time they just wander about, sit in the sun or damp places, and occasionally go for a swim.

 

Alec

[Jesse]

No, not venomous; harmless to us and to be encouraged. The adder is Britain's only venomous snake but is also to be encouraged just because it's supposed to be here.

 

I absolutely love having them around, its such a treat, and all the other wildlife and all on my doorstep its great just going out and having a careful , slow walk about, would be very easy to miss but now i know how to walk and look with eyes wide open very slowly.

[Graham]

Thanks for all that, thats great information from all, i didn't think grass snakes got that big, are they venomous ? i will try and get TMT to post photos of the others , they look different, but it does not help being colour blind, is it eggs they lay in the wood chip and i assume its June when they emerge.

 

They lay their eggs now so any about woodchip piles or compost are probably looking at egg laying sites. I once supplied a load of woodchip for a wildlife exhibtion in a shopping mall which included a batch of eggs I hadn't spotted. They hatched inside the mall and created havoc. The young ones are perfectly formed six inch replicas of their parents. Beautiful little things.

[Matthew Storrs]

Its nice to see such positive attitude towards snakes, they tend to have a bad stigma attached to them and this is totally unjustified, snakes will bite/defend for two reasons to kill prey they are capable of eating and in defence as a last resort, they usually try to get away first.

I have had many pet snakes, boa constrictors, beautiful carpet python and corn snakes. Ifvonly been bitten twice and both to were my fault.

I think you are very lucky to see adders and grass snakes in the wild now, I'm not sure they appriciate Britain's miserable climate any more then us.

That grass snake in the pic looks like its about to shed its skin I think.

Nearly stepped on an adder on the moors not long ago. A wee baby.

[Rich2484]

Grass snake. Adder looks like this. It's a very good picture with strong diamonds. Some arnt this bright and a dull green colour. But the shapes are the same.

 

For the record I hate snakes and I'm petrified of them, I freeze up at the sight of them.