Snake, or slow worm?

[dafw]

Hi,

Spotted a snake (I think!) on sunday in the Porthmadog, N. Wales area.

Walking down a grassy path to the beach, I noticed a snake 'sunbathing' on concrete slabs. It measured around 60cm, and was black in colour with a red/amber belly.

I have been looking at various pictures of Adder, Grass and Smooth snakes but none match the description. I then searched for slow worm info, but again none of the pictures online match.

Any ideas?

[Davey S2]

Sounds like an Adder to me.

[otolith]

60cm is way too big for a slow worm, I would say.

[Corsair7]

otolith said:

60cm is way too big for a slow worm, I would say.

Does the OP have any hstory of exaggerating the length of 'snakes'...?

[nevgroom]

Slow worms usually max out at 30cm, usually around 20cm.

It could be a smooth snake though these are very rare and usuallly foung on the South coast. Their preferred environment is sand dunes however. They can appear very black in the sunlight and have orange/yellow underbelly.

[Sam_68]

dafw said:

...was black in colour with a red/amber belly.

You occasionally get 'melanic' variants of all the UK snakes, though I believe its actually quite common in adders.

If you see it again, get it to bite you. If the bite swells up and hurts like hell, it's an adder.

[dafw]

Thanks for the advice with regards to provoking a bite....

With regards to exagerating snake length, guilty!

I did take a picture, but unable to find the cable to upload.