Smooth snake injury

[Madelinew]

I am feeling so guilty! I was gardening this afternoon and accidentally cut off the tail of a smooth snake that had buried itself in a bank of loam I've been building for use this year. How likely is it likely to survive such and injury?

I've come across a couple in my garden in the last month. Fortunately the others survived the encounter.....

[demicav]

Not a Slow worm is it ? Smooth snakes are extremely rare, I wasn't aware there were any where you are.

[Meta menardi]

Can't undo it, we have all done things that we (I) wish we (I) could reverse. Move on, the fact you are concerned shows you won't do the same thing again. Not being callous, we (I) learn.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Madelinew

I am feeling so guilty! I was gardening this afternoon and accidentally cut off the tail of a smooth snake that had buried itself in a bank of loam I've been building for use this year. How likely is it likely to survive such and injury?

I've come across a couple in my garden in the last month. Fortunately the others survived the encounter.....

As demicav said, are you sure there smooth snakes and not slowworms? From what I know and have looked at there are only grass sankes and adders on the IOW. If its a slowworm, and the cut was below a certain point (ie the where the tail starts) it should regrow a tail

[Madelinew]

I understood we did have smooth snakes here but am willing to stand corrected if necessary! We have loads of sloworms too and this could have been either to be honest looking at the pictures online as both seem to have quite a variation in tone within species. So hopefully it was just one of my many many sloworms which will survive to keep up the attacks on my slug population....

I have to say I am now digging up that loam pile VERY carefully.

Now where are the adders hiding - I'm assured I have some by the folks I bought the house from.

[NickCantle]

Smooth snakes and Slow-worms are very different, even with their drastic variations. At least that's what I thought

[demicav]

Check out Slow worms in the link,

BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Slow worm

[Madelinew]

The head doesn't seem quite right but on the balance of probability I suppose it had to be a sloworm

[aeshna5]

Looking in the most recent New Naturalist on reptiles there are distribtion maps taken from the Biological Records Centre. For Smooth Snake there is a pre-1970 record from IOW, but nothing since.

[Madelinew]

I'll assume it was a sloworm