Grass Snakes

Hi CG,

What a privilage!!!, honestly to have such a species in your garden is just brilliant.

I do sympathise with your phobia but even to purposely attract Grass snakes is not easy.

There is a combination of things that maybe your garden has to offer including a wet/boggy habitat, compost heat (which female Grass snakes will travel far to lay their eggs in); also a food source of frogs and insects.

Grass snakes like any animal including cats and dogs can bite but only when threatened and I stress thier bite is no means lethal!

They do hibernate in the winter so wil be looking for somewhere warm like under piles of wood or rock.

This species will forage over a distance and genrally like ditches and dykes to hunt in; so the indivduals injury could have been caused by a wild mammal or bird.

Hope this info helps

Craig 

Jealous? I'm positively green with envy

Hi CG,

Sorry to hear you have a problem with snakes, but your grass snake photos are rather fine! It's a difficult animal to see ordinarily, so many thanks for posting them.

Andy

Hi

Like the other I am also envious that you get to see these great snakes at close quarters, I have only caught a few glimpses of them and thats when they have been swimming across a local river. Heres a few things you may not know about grass snakes that I found on the internet.

Appearance: Grass snakes are typically a shade of olive green or grey, although brown snakes are not uncommon and very occasionally a completely black individual is sighted. Yellow and black collar markings are peculiar to the grass snake - and a sure way to confirm identity. Snakes will usually have black bar-shaped markings along their sides and smaller markings on their backs. Their forked tongue is non-venomous

Size: 70-140cm. Females tend to be longer than males

Lifespan: Maximum 25 years

Diet: Tadpoles, frogs, toads, fish and very occasionally mice and small birds

Family: Colubridae

• The grass snake was once known as the water snake, largely due to its love of water
• Grass snakes are good swimmers and can remain underwater for up to an hour
• The grass snake is the only native British snake to lay eggs
• If threatened, the grass snake may adopt an aggressive defence by puffing up its body and hissing loudly. This is a bluff as the grass snake will not bite
• At their most aggressive, grass snakes may emit a nasty-smelling liquid which will turn most predators away

Regards

Shane

More baby Grass Snakes are appearing in the garden. I haven't got a compost heap or log pile but I do live on a marsh that has five big ponds on it and I have a lot of frogs in the garden. The frogs are much bigger than the Snakes mouth so I don't  think they are the attraction.  Every time I have seen the baby Snakes they have been within a few feet of the house.  I have just been in the garden and as I was cutting back a shrub which was growing against the house wall  I accidentely trod on another baby Snake. Fearing that it was injured I called somebody to come and have a look but it was fine and we put it on the marsh. This one was a lot smaller than the one I saw in September, so I presume there must be more than one female around. 

Looking on the bright side, at least their numbers are increasing in this area.

Now Shane has told me that they live for 25 years I will have to try harder to conquer my fear or move.

Great photos of a gorgeous little creature.Thank you for letting us see them and good news they are doing so well in your area. I am sorry you have a phobia about them, it must be really difficult for you at times. :-(

Then we all go on about how envious we are!

I must admit I am though...............................very envious. 

Oh they are just gorgeous! I empathise with your phobia though as I'm the same with spiders! Would love to have these in my garden though! Excellent photos!