Nearly stepped on this bloke.... Streuth!

Found this today just coming out to warm up I presume this morning about 10 o'clock, he felt very cold.

 

Is it a slow worm Pete? Never seen one in real life so I can admire yours:thumb:

 

bootiful !!

 

Yep, a slow worm, I get quite a few around here, but usually they are too fast and dive for cover, they are very slippery, dry but slippery and smooth.
This one just layed in my hand.

 

I've never seen one in real and never even one in close-up like yours, Pete. I don't think I would have picked it up though, but thanks for sharing anyway.

 

How can you hold that Pete. I dont like snakes. I got bitten by a snake In Sri-lanka as a child and went in a coma for 3 whole days. Makes me shiver.

 

You are lucky it was torpid and slow(worm) they sometimes wriggle and shed the tail in the process which is not nice for the owner as the regenerated one is usually a stump.
I have to be very careful where I tread in our polytunnel as the babies are so small and are camoflaged in the sand.
Looking at the pic again it appears to have a stump anyway.
I think they are a really attractive reptile as they don't have 'snake eyes', a much kinder look about them and they have eyelids unlike snakes but I like snakes too.

 

Are you saying that I sholdn't have handled it strongy, I would hate to make one lose its tail?

I think they are nice to have around, and fancy I do know what you mean about snakes.

I also have had to keep an eye open, I once accdentally cut one in half while digging out a compost bin, not something I enjoyed:eek:

 

The ones I see are invaribly those ive hit with the clearing saw unfortunatly.

Amazing little creatures and good freinds to the gardener as they eat up insects etc.

 

we used to have loads but then we had the surprise of finding a rather fat well fed grass snake in the compost heap...

 

Slow worms are legless lizards and not snakes which is why they can lose their tails. It distracts the predator whilst the slow worm slides away. Our cat could watch the tail for hours so it must work

 

Did you know that the disembodied tail still squirms around for quite a while afterwards???

This haunted my dreams for many a long night after first seeing it!

Blargh... usually after Zippy the cat had assisted the slow worm from losing it in the first place.... on the living room carpet!

 

I would love to have some of those around the garden.
Are they found all around the UK?

 

You may well have some fmay, they hide pretty well, I only see them mid mornings warming up in the sun.

I'm pretty untidy, so have lots of places for them to hide, they like compost heaps that are not disturbed too often.
They breed in mine, I've seen the very small ones.
Also some twice the size of the one in my picture, but not often.