Walking along a grassy path at the edge of the forest today I suddenly saw an adder and so did Molly. She looked as if she was going to pounce but thankfully 'leave it' made her back off (all that practice of leave a sausage at training classes has paid off!) and I put her on the lead. The adder moved away into the undergrowth. I have an irrational fear of snakes (even harmless slow worms) and I swear it took about 20 minutes for my heart-rate to return to normal! Since coming home I've googled what to do if your dog is bitten by an adder (for those not in the UK it's our only venomous snake) and actually with vet treatment on a big dog it doesn't sound that serious. All the same I'd rather avoid them.
I've just jumped Joy,I've only ever seen one snake in 3.5 years of daily desert walking ( I see masses of slithery tracks) and that buried itself quickly ,phew! So glad Molly left it alone .... This is unusual right? X
Yes, I've only seen 3 adders in my entire life! We get slow worms quite often in the garden and I have to get OH to remove them - silly but I can't help being scared.
Well adders are poisonous aren't they so you do right to be scared ...hope that's the last one we hear of on the Forum for this Summer......
I had a German Pointer who came on to point a large circle of dead bracken, I told her to 'put it up' and a rabbit ran our but she kept pointing, so I went forward to see and there was the biggest Adder I have ever seen, coiled up asleep! We made a hasty retreat. I have had close encounters with another two Adders and both the Adders and I found it an interesting experience before we both broke off at the same time and retreated from each other. One of my GSPs was bitten by an adder and was quite ill, she was bitten just under her ear and her jaw stiffened up and she couldn't eat or drink for several hours. She had some steroids and survived.
Oh a lucky escape and very well done Molly. I have to say I'm not keen and would probably run for the hills . We have slow worms in our garden which, I believe are protected x
@Stacia I couldn't quite bring myself to 'like' your post. Glad your dog who was bitten was ok in the end.
More so for some than others! I remember your snake/stick incident a while back - even thinking about it brings me out in a cold sweat. I think I can honestly say I have never seen a live snake as an adult (out of a zoo etc). Years ago as a child mucking around as you did, I saw one, think we were living in Kent at the time. Never since.
I've got absolutely stacks of slow worms in my veg garden! Overrun with the dratted things - are they really protected? I keep hoping the toads might start eating them, but they seem to have reached an understanding with the toads. At least I don't seem to have so very many slugs this year, so hoping the slow worms might be eating those at least! It's starting to feel like my strawberry plants are supporting an extensive food chain here....!
I had never heard of "Slow worms" so Googled them. I think the statement "They need the heat of the sun to warm them up which helps to explain why there are so few kinds of reptile in Scotland" maybe explains why I have never seen one LOL This is a handy we leaflet if anyone else is interested http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/education/slowworm.pdf
http://www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk/wildlife/reptiles/slow-worm.aspx Looks they are protected @JulieT.
Slow worms are protected, and they are great for your garden Julie; they eat all kinds of pests and do no harm at all! In addition to adders, there are also garden snakes in the UK, which are not poisonous but can often be larger than adders. If you do happen to have a grass snake in your garden you should actually be very happy, as they eat pests, are not poisonous, and are quite rare nowadays. I get them in my garden pond sometimes in the heat of the summer. All snakes are protected in the UK. Slow worms of course are not actually snakes, but legless lizards, and are also protected. I love them, in case you were wondering... but I am cautious of adders particularly with dogs!
We have an adder here, called Adam. We've only seen him once, mind, but that was still enough to name him. I've also seen another couple of non-venomous snakes. I know as we become more established, they'll head for quieter ground, so I'm not overly worried about them. We have loads of lizards and geckos here. J went to the shops earlier and saw an iguana trotting down the road in front of him! I'm so upset I missed it!! It seems very tropical Factoid: did you know (probably) that slow worms are lizards, not snakes? This is because they have eyelids, whereas snakes do not.
I am glad we haven't encountered an adder jet. In our house in the woods it will very much be likely we do some day... We already encountered a wild boar. Euan went into the woods. He was off lead and my OH tried to call him back. It was the only time he wasn't under recall.... Probably smelled the wild boar, encountered him and ran for his life!!! Luckily the boar stopped. We think he was there with his family. When we told our neighbors they said they can easily be disemboweled. I guess we were very lucky
