Snakes Alive

[ali-cat]

And in my compost heap - at least one of them.

I just caught a few quick glimpses before it ducked back undercover but from what I could see it was around one metre long and a pretty uniform dull brown colour.  I had a look at the 'what snake is it' thread and can't tell from the linked pictures. Personally I'm happy to leave well alone however our cats aren't and have been stalking around the area where the snake is nesting so I'd prefer to move it if possible.  Any ideas?  The local SuperU and Brico have loads of products for ants, mice and rats but nothing for snakes.

PS - Definitely not a mamba!

Mr Cat

 

 

[Judie]

Sounds a bit like a slow worm. They like compost heaps. If it is, then it's totally harmless. I had a smallish snake in the front garden the other day, being observed by one of my wiser cats. I just picked the snake up on a bit of smooth stick and put it about 50m away in the next field. No doubt it could find its way back, but it's the first time I've actually seen one in the garden in 5 years, so hopefully it will go elsewhere.

[ams]

Our cat left a 1.5m snake at the front door, still alive but with blood coming from the back of the head area. Gave us some chock, the neighbour said it was dangerous, so with the aid of a fork i put it on the grass and lopped off its head with a spade. When the cat came back it was not happy. This is the third snake and biggest that she has killed. So if you have cats, it is the snakes that will have the problem.

 

ams

[chris pp]

Terrefic, not.

1.5 metres, dangerous?  NO, not possible.

The original post in the compost heap is either a Grass snake or an Aesculapian snake, both equally harmless.

http://planetepassion.com/SPECIES%20FACT%20SHEETS/snakes_of_france.htm

Chris

 

[ali-cat]

Thanks Chris

From the photos it looks most like the grass snake - quite beautiful in some of the pictures.

Best idea I think is to gradually clear the compost heap, as it isn't actuallly used to produce compost,  and hopefully we won't have any snakes close to the house, harmless or otherwise.

Regards

Mr Cat