Snakes Alive !!

[LesLauriers]

For the first time in two years, I had my first encounter with a snake yesterday.

It was basking on the lawn along the edge of the low wall along our drive. I had parked up and got out of the car and nearly trod on it. Scared the hell out of my six year old.

Could any one tell me what sort of snake it could be. It was about a metre long and about an inch and a half 'thick', moved fast, was greenish brown. I didn't spot (no pun intended!) any markings as it moved so quickly. Unfortunately, it slithered off, hissing a lot, under our terrace amongst all the pool inflatables! Whilst standing on a chair I tried to locate it shifting the gonflables about with the broom (get the picture!), but it had gone. There has been a hole about 3" diameter on the edge of the terrace in the soil for some time now - could that possibly be its nest?

[Christian]

If it was a meter long and green, it was probably a grass snake. Not poisonous, but alarming. As far as I am aware there are only three types of snakes around here. Grass Snakes, Western Whip Snakes & Adders.

Grass snakes will be anything from 300mm to 1000mm and not much more than 25mm in diameter, in various shades of green. They also have a small black, white and yellow patch just behind their heads. They are fast moving and harmless, but they will give off a foul odour if alarmed.

Western Whip Snakes seem to be grouped in with grass snakes. They are larger and fatter than grass snakes. They are a mottled black and white. They are not poisonous, but can be aggressive. They are also fast moving.

Adders tend are shorter and fatter than grass snakes. Usually around 300mm long and 40mm in diameter. There is a large variation in colour, pale brown, olive greens to almost black. They have a zigzag pattern down their backs, which is sometimes difficult to make out on darker specimens. The way to distinguish them from grass snakes is to look for a black,white and yellow patch behind its head. If its not there, its an adder. They are slow moving, but with a quick strike, but they will only strike if disturbed. They are poisonous and I am told that some local varieties are more venomous than the UK varieties.

Remember all these snakes are much more afraid of you than you are of them. They cant hear you, but can feel the vibrations you make when you move or talk. Stamp your feet and they will move away. Cats and chickens are good for keeping them away from your house. Usually, once disturbed they will find somewhere else to live.

There is an Italian web site with photos of all the European reptiles on it. I have shown them to my children (5 & 9), so that they know what to be careful of.

http://www.herp.it/

Use the Index (common), at the bottom of the page to find your beast.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

LAST EDITED ON 26-May-04 AT 04:46 PM (BST)

A couleuvre; the ones in 24 cannot inject venom into humans so are not dangerous although they are occasionally aggressive and have very occasionally been known to wrap themselves around people (without ill effect).