something slithery!

[hamsterqueen]

I plucked up the courage to open the link to the picture and yes we are fairly sure it is a slow worm!

[nomad]

hey snakes are lovely and are more scared of you than you are of them

i rescue snakes and currently have a 11 foot boa constrictor and she is so big i cannot lift her on my own as for one i do not want to hurt her and two she be too heavy
i also have a californian king snake
a carpet python
a western hog nose

they are all lovely

[lainey lou]

Well done for being so brave hamster queen!
slo worms are lovely, you've nothing to fear! Infact, I'd say you are honoured!

[rogesse]

How do I attract some slow worms - not only are they beautiful - they are a sure fast way that mother-in-law won't visit.....

[Alice]

Great shot SBP. Thanks for sharing it. I'm not a snakey person, but if I had one I'd get used to it - and share the pic with you all.

[smallblueplanet]

We had a teeny lizard on the patio once too Alice, but I couldn't get to the camera quick enough.

Think the slow worm is a good deal though, anything that eats slugs has to be good?

[Claire72]

When I moved my compost bin in the winter (it had stopped composting) I disturbed a family of mice.
After the initial shock, I went back and watched them for a bit, they aren't really welcome pests to the garden, but I thought they were quite sweet at the time

[Rowan]

I once saw two baby slow worms - beautiful - they're bronze, with a black stripe down each side.

[tootles]

I don't think you would like my garden much hamsterqueen!!
When we were digging out the house (yes, I know that every sane person would dig a garden but there you go) we found a nest of small cross green snakes. I saw a large black snake under the wheel barrow - about 1 metre long and we have huge green lizards with blue faces sunning themselves in the grass I have also seen fire salamanders on the rocks - which are stunning, black with bright yellow markings. Not to mention the usual little brown lizards which are everywhere.
I love it here
Tx

[Kayt]

It could be worse, I had a rat in my compost bin! That did freak me out when I lifted the lid and was faced with Ratty

[TPeers]

I remember as a kid going down to the compost bin and backing away hurridly as the whole thing buzzed!

Mum called the council and we had a student turn up - he was doing some thesis on different types of bee....

He found and identified 13 different types of bee, complete with nests.

Needless to say there was the inevitable row between Mum and Dad about who should have dug out the heap and when

[rivercottagewannabe]

I have been digging out the garden this week so I can start my own rivercottage.(lol). When my son started shouting for me. He thought he found some worms, so I had a look, and I admit for a quite a bulky 6ft 3 guy i jumped like a little girl. 5 slow worms all babies, so gently lifted them up in some soil and put them next door in the wasteland.that was monday, each day I found more adding up to 13 of them. kept five of them in with my red currant patch.

(made a cave type home for them with some rocks) better that slug pellets me hopes.

[Waffler]

We have often had slow worms brought into the house by our very generous kitties! They tend to play dead, and its quite easy to believe them when they've had their tail end removed! Pretty sure they come from the compost heap - at least that's the area we remove them to. Didn't know they ate slugs though - that's good news for sure!
Last year I exclaimed to hubby that there was a snake in the pond, to which he replied something along the lines of 'don't be ridiculous'. I was being ridiculous when I worried it was some sort of exotic poisonous water snake. However, I rang my Dad (a wildlife know all) who assured me that it was almost certainly a grass snake (later positively identified on a google image search) which had taken to a dip since it was the one hot part we had in Spring last year.

[brooklynodog]

I used to keep slow worms in an old sink as a child living in Wiltshire. Before loads of you tell me this is illegal, I know, and this was 40 years ago!! Used to find them mostly behind tufts of grass growing against the stone walls

[Two_Sheds]

We have often had slow worms brought into the house by our very generous kitties! They tend to play dead, and its quite easy to believe them when they've had their tail end removed!

That appals me. Get your cats a collar with a bell on.