Slowworm help!

Civvie · #1 (**permalink**) 20-05-2010, 11:16 AM

Hello this morning while taking my son to school i came across a beautiful slowworm on our door step, not really knowing much about this reptile i would like to place it back in its habitat were it would be safe from harm, but iam unsure as to were a "safe/comfortable place" is. The area i live is mostly concrete and not really a natural grassy area which im sure it would come into harms way if i was to leave her and realease her where she is, but further on about 20-30 min walk is a nice lush wood land fallen leaves etc, would this be ideal for a slowworm or would a better place be more suitable we do have a big garden with plenty of places for the slowworm but we have two cats which i have heard often kill slowworms

any help would really be appreciated, is this is truley an amazing creature

also manage to take some photos of it not really good quality as it was done on a mobile phone

ViperaBerus · #2 (**permalink**) 20-05-2010, 05:19 PM

Difficult to say as I don't know your area or habitats. Could be someone caught it and it escaped or it could be that there is a garden nearby with a thriving colony. If you can't locate this, then best place for release is on a south facing bank or clearing in the woods.

Kayleigh · #3 (**permalink**) 20-05-2010, 05:33 PM

My bet would be there is a pond in one of the gardens at the back of yours and it has come through(under) the fence.
Can you find out if this is the case as it looks like it lives local so moving it is not really the best for it.

Welcome to WAB..

Civvie · #4 (**permalink**) 20-05-2010, 06:42 PM

Ok problem solved, my oldest son had told me one of his freinds had picked it up from a field not to far away and dumped it by our doorstep ( of which i had a few words with him and his parents for this) after which he told me where he took it from of which i placed back this evening under a old wooden door safe and sound, both my children loved looking at him/her its the first they have ever seen hopefully it wont be the last

thanks again

oh forgot to add this is in south wales first one i have seen for many years , i use to seem them quite often when i lived in tidworth, but that was well over 14years ago

Kayleigh · #5 (**permalink**) 20-05-2010, 06:44 PM

All well that ends well lol

ViperaBerus · #6 (**permalink**) 21-05-2010, 09:21 AM

Excellent. This is normaly the case when they turn up from no where in the middle of no where. I've actually been called out three times this month because of people cathing snakes and then having them escape. Amazingly two were adders, one of which was in a local supermarket. The nearest adder colony is at least two miles away from the location. Very annoying.