4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[kannie]

I just opened up the lid of one of our compost bins to see a snake on the surface! It immediately disappeared, shot out of the bottom of the bin (the door has come off), saw my foot right in front of it, and did a U turn to vanish behind the shed!

 

All a bit alarming really! I guess it was about a foot long and as thick as my little finger! Wish I'd had my glasses on for a better look!

[Daphne]

could it have been a slow-worm? We have lots of those in various heaps. OH won't let me use the compost as he doesn't want to disturb them!

[kannie]

Maybe - but it was pretty fast! I haven't seen a slow worm since junior schools so positive idenfication is a bit hard! Do they live in inner London?

[Patricia W]

Slow -worms look like copper tubes and are harmless. They do like compost heaps and can be found anywhere. Ours ( south Oxfordshire) came from 16 that a neighbour brought with him from Dorset many years ago and they are all over the neighbourhood.

 

Tricia

[Daphne]

and if it was a slow-worm than don't let it near your chooks or it'll be an ex-slow-worm

[Valkyrie]

Fabulous. We had our neighbour's escaped corn snake in ours many years ago. My OH swore it was an anaconda! It was almost a foot long.

[majorbloodnock]

Slow worm (not a snake at all, but a legless lizard

Grass snake

Adder (the UK's only venomous indigenous snake species

Smooth snake

 

These are, I believe, the only native reptiles that are, or look like, snakes. If it's not one of these, it's probably someone's escaped pet.

[kannie]

Hmm - OK I guess it was most likely a slow worm! Still pretty exciting though!

 

And as for the chooks getting near it I wouldn't think they'd stand a chance: it was anything but slow!

[Old Speckled Hen]

Grass snake

 

 

That brought back some memories

 

From your wiki link

 

Defence

 

Not being venomous, the snake's only defence is to produce a foul-smelling fluid (containing asafoetida) from the anal glands and/or feigning death by becoming completely limp.

 

As a small child I found one of these when playing in the woods (ages me somewhat).

To me it was a giant serpent and I proudly bore it home to show mummy. It wriggled a bit and got really slimey. By the time I got it home it was quiet but I was covered in this smelly stuff My mum was aghast ,making me let my prize go and dunking me unceremoniously in the bath

[chickenanne]

What a cruel mother !

 

We used to get adders and grass snakes in the barn; we were never allowed to go near them (probably sensible really, but it always disappointed me!). Grass snakes not harmful, and adders very unlikely to do you any harm at all, but would you trust your three-year-old to play with them...?

[kannie]

This time it was a rat (and the slow worm)!

 

Don't rats eat slow worms?

 

I think this might become a job for OH...........

[Daphne]

Yuk - I'm sure somebody will be along to give you some advice, I don't know if rats eat slow-worms or not. My 6' 4" bro once saw a rat in our bin - he said it was sitting there looking at him ..... so he promptly legged it

 

Being the mature elder sister, last time I saw rats in the bins I did something about it, but in the end I had to get somebody from the council to put poison down because my attempts didn't work. He used that blue bait - but in industrial quantities and in places he could tell the rats were using - ie rat runs. It did work, I've not seen one since.

[kannie]

I knew we had rats: I'd seen their hole in the garden. Never actually seen a rat though, so I'd been ignoring the problem

 

Not easy to know what to do with having chooks around though: I don't want to poison them, or have them discovering a dead poisoned rat

[Lewis]

You can get rat traps like a box that they have to go into and then around a corner to get to the poison (which is a blue gel thing) which should be safe with the chickens - the other is a humane trap, I would for mice but wouldn't know where to release a rat

[Guest]

Sounds like a slo worm they are protected I think

 

Wont hurt you at all, at least you can know what to expect. Would sort ratty rat out with a bait box (easy to buy)

 

Good luck indie

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to hear about the rat Kannie - get a bait box, they work a treat.

[xScrunchee]

The only thing I worry about with poison is if an animal (cat, dog, chicken) ate the dead or dying rat/mouse.

My Mum lost a cat to what we think was poisoning from eating a dying mouse

[chickweed]

I had never seen a snake in the wild until earlier this year when I saw one in Dubai. I was so thrilled. How sad is that?

[Toots]

Hmm - OK I guess it was most likely a slow worm! Still pretty exciting though!

 

And as for the chooks getting near it I wouldn't think they'd stand a chance: it was anything but slow!

 

 

i can confirm that they are not quick enough!

 

caught Forna finishing one off before swollowing the thing whole! a good 8 inches

[The Dogmother]

They'll be dozy at this time of year. I'll bet she had tummy ache after that!