I've got slow worms in the garden!

[Georgiegirl]

Accidently uncovered one at the weekend, so tucked it back up nicely until its ready to come out in the spring. I'm very excited! I spoke to my neighbour and apparently lots of the gardens in my road have them, so I'm looking forward to seeing some this year hopefully. I am also hoping the cat doesn't kill any...

[Japveesix]

I rescued this lady from a cat in the summer and let her go at the nature reserve I was already heading to.



Your cats might well get a few though if you're lucky and catch them in the act you can stop them killing them (they tend to play with them a lot first).

A nice addition to any garden though and I suspect they go unnoticed in most gardens they live in

[SmokinV8]

lucky you!!!!!, unfortunatly the habitat that they require is getting scarcer.

[pugwash4x4]

do you live in Southern Dorset by any chance?

they are getting quite rare nowadays- was quite lucky to live in Dorset and frequently see all 7 of our native reptiles, would be nice to get them thriving!

[ShiggyBiggs]

I totally forgot these things existed! I havent seen one in about 20 years! When I read the title I thought of flat worms.

ETA : Could you keep one as a pet?

Edited by ShiggyBiggs on Wednesday 5th January 20:15

[Georgiegirl]

Thats a brilliant photo! My cat has only bought a couple of things in over the last year so fingers crossed it will be ok - and he yowls so much when he has got something I should be able to rescue pretty quickly.
I might try and keep that section of the garden very wild so they can hopefully thrive - I wonder if there is anything I can do to help them, I will have to do some research.
I'm in very north suffolk, near Lowestoft.

[rsole]

Quite often find them in the garden here (Cornwall). Have also found a couple in the house, which gets an interesting reaction from the guests!! As has been said on here, think these guys are becoming quite rare now.

[Sam_68]

ShiggyBiggs said:

ETA : Could you keep one as a pet?

AFAIK you still can, yes. They are protected in as much as you're not allowed to kill or injure them, recklessly destroy their habit, or sell them, but I don't think they have the level of protection required to stop you handling them or taking them as pets, like natterjack toads, sand lizards, great crested newts and smooth snakes do.

I used to keep them as pets as a kid - they do well on a diet of small, white slugs.

They're not as rare as all that in the South of England - for example we collected and relocated about 90 of them (IIRC) off a site the size of a football field, near Cheltenham at the back end of last summer - it's just they tend to stay fairly well hidden a lot of the time.

Edited by Sam_68 on Monday 10th January 13:22

[rolex]

They're weird things in-between a snake and a lizard. I wonder why they lost their legs? Is Charles Darwin out there?

[Comacchio]

I spotted one of these when doing the Southern Upland Way during the summer, thought it was a snake at first! *digging for picture..*





Was quite a big bd that one! Spotted another, smaller one earlier on in the walk. Beautiful reptile.

-Allan

[otolith]

We have a lot of them - I think they breed in the compost heap. Unfortunately, the cats do eat a few of them

[y2blade]

yay we love slow-worms here too

[Morningside]

• shudder* - creepy. I did nearly Flymo one once. I tried to catch it for the local School but the bugger got away.

[HereBeMonsters]

I'm ashamed to say that I discovered one in the garden last year - and ran a mile.

For all I knew it was some sort of escaped pet, ready to kill me and my entire family. I blame it on growing up in Africa. The snakes there WILL kill you.

[goldblum]

You're very lucky.We don't get them here - Cheshire.

[MiniEllis]

wow, I havent seen these before, so they are like a wormy/snake ?

Hannah xx

[Sam_68]

MiniEllis said:

wow, I havent seen these before, so they are like a wormy/snake ?

They are a legless lizard - ie. one that has lost its legs through evolution.

[Zaxxon]

We get them now and then in our Garden in Sandhurst, Berksire.

[MiniEllis]

awesome!

Hope we get some here in suffolk (think i might be hoping a bit though)
can see how they get mistaken for snakes!

Hannah xxx

[daveparry]

Wash your mouth out, God created them, you should know better than to blaspheme!!!

Sam_68 said:

MiniEllis said:

wow, I havent seen these before, so they are like a wormy/snake ?

They are a legless lizard - ie. one that has lost its legs through evolution.