What type of snake is this?

[Beryl]

Having got on my hands and knees to check it had round eyes  [geek] I then picked it up and put it somewhere safe as it was imminent danger of getting chopped up in the lawn mower.

I thought it could be a grass snake but it was definitely a bronze colour unlike the greeny coloured one I once saw in the UK.

 

[IMG]http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i165/beryl41/DSCF0569.jpg[/IMG]

 

[derf]

I am no expert but it looks like a slow worm to me, did it blink at you?[:-))] that's one way of telling, if you are still alive to tell the tale,

Slow worms look superficially like snakes, but are actually legless lizards.

One way to identify them is that unlike snakes, lizards (and therefore slow worms) have eyelids.

[Pixietoadstool]

It is very definitely a slow worm - I have seen 3 here this week alone in Hampshire (heaths).

Be careful when you pick them up because they will drop their tail if they are trying to get away - it happened to me once and the bit that was dropped was nearly as big as the animal it left behind!  I felt so guilty watching this poor foreshortened legless lizard "hobbling" away from me!

Valerie

[Beryl]

Thank you for the replies.

I am so glad its tail did not drop off, that would have probably affected me more than the poor creature.[+o(]

I have seen an adder sunbathing and a slow worm in the past 2 weeks , I have never seen either before anywhere. I think its just so great to be able to see these things.

[Kitty]

How long was it?  I can't tell from the photograph?