Grass snake for Bathgate

I would be very happy to find one in my garden, it looks pretty comfy in there.

I would love one in my garden. What do they eat? Mice? Thanks for posting.

I didn't know so I looked it up for you - my book says they eat mainly frogs, which might explain why we haven't seen any baby ones near the pond! I have seen them swimming a couple of times (not in our little pond I hasten to add) and they look really beautiful when they are wet.

Why oh why did I click on this. At least while writing this as on a Tablet I can't see it!!!!! :-).

Sorry Jen - it was much nicer than it looks in the photo - and it lifted its head up and flicked its tongue at me. I don't know which of us was more surprised when the lid came off the bin...

By his girth I'd say he's had a few meals!

No worries - I've got it safe in another picture.(still attached to the body Snoop...)
I was in too much of a hurry to get it photographed before it slid away. If anybody wants to see the head I can add the other pic...

yeh, I do!

LOL... I thought you had beheaded it, too, Stera! they are great for gardeners and our garter snakes.. similar to your grass snakes... will eat mice too! Something has thinned the frog population in my pond recently. The water level is quite reduced and it could be a raccoon or perhaps a snake..but I haven't seen many large snakes this year..only little ones. Raccoons raid the garbage cans regularly, so I'm betting on them. That must have been quite a surprise, though. Hello! ;-)

Even if you chop the head off, it can still bite for about 15 minutes afterwards.

Fiction!

i hate snakes!!!!!!!!! i am soo glad there have been no sightings of them for a long time, i know they are suppose to be good with taking care of mice and small rodents but they give me the creeps!

Grass snakes don't bite people though Paul. Interesting that you have garter snakes Lori. They are sold as pets here.

Since I took up gardening, Stera, I've had a change of heart regarding snakes and spiders! Where I grew up there were Massassauga Rattle Snakes... also called Wood Rattlesnakes.. They like rock and wood piles near water ...and you know they're there by their rattle. They were the only snakes my Dad ever warned me about as a child (who liked to play along the shoreline)...the only misfortune I remember was sitting on a log that was alive with red ants. Ouch!

It's important to know your snakes well. Down in Florida, I have to worry about the 'cottonmouth' a cute unassuming little snake that waits in the tall grass to ambush you when you walk by. He'll strike your ankles at lightening speed before you even see him then it's to the emergency room.

Lori - Here's an article you will find fascinating - http://www.livescience.com/47626-severed-snake-head-can-still-bite.html

Well Snoop, I would never have guessed......lol.

Lori and Bathgate thank goodness we have no similar problems here! Adders will bite if you do something rash like tread on them but they are more likely to slither off. I put the photo with the head in my photo file.

I'm off to take a look, Stera. As for the cook in the story, Bathgate, I still find it a little too sensational. Why would anyone want to eat a venomous snake anyway? Yep, I know...asked and answered.
I'm glad we don't have cottonmouths. They are vile. That is a type of aggressive behaviour that you don't see in most snakes of the temperate zone. You really have to blunder into them and hurt them before they will strike at you.

ohh - Stera he or she is gorgeous but I don't know about the frog diet because we only have a few of those in our garden up here and we need them - now there are plenty of slugs - too many for our frogs to handle or so it seems !!

Tell me about it...

Update - today I was emptyng a compost bin and found FOUR slowworms in it - luck I didn't chop any of them with the spade! they must have been enjoying the warmth. It made transferrinbg the compost into a barrow very difficult...

what are slow worms?

Love slow worms, not seen any for years, unfortunately....

Vjd they are not snakes as such but legless lizards we had many in the garden until the badgers moved in now I rarely see them.
they are very attractive and easy to handle.

Next doors cat catches them and looks so funny with one dangling from each side of its mouth, like a puffin with a fish.

Oh excellent, and that it has a head.

You can't have everything Siris...

When we took over our first house on the I.O.Wight in the 60's we found a grass snake in the garden. Long time ago. They like worms and insects. We had slow worms around too, on our allotment plot, and I used to pick them up. You Grass snake looks in very good order.