More snakes around this year?

[olive]

It is a fairly crude measure but I have seen more snakes basking on the road and when out walking than previous years and crucially more on the property. I was having a tidy up and a whip snake was eyeing me up from inside the coils of irrigation pipe. Tried to move it and found it was dead! fortunately.

The cat found a juvenile viper last night on the patio. Don't mind them elsewhere but not so keen in or around the house! Shoes back on.

olive

[Gazespana]

Yes I agree there do seem to be a lot more hissing sids around this year, had a snake encounter yesterday with a Montpelier two and a half meters long and as thick as my arm ! Scary !! it decided to cool off in the pool and was so big it had a job pulling its body weight out, chased it across the garden where it was met by its partner a mere one and a half meters long ! both slithered off into the chumbas. Still dont kill them cos they keep down the rats and mice in your area.

[wildside]

The cat found a juvenile viper last night on the patio. Don't mind them elsewhere but not so keen in or around the house! Shoes back on.

Olive?... When you say "viper" what are you referring to? Can you give me a scientific or better common name for the snake?

Still dont kill them cos they keep down the rats and mice in your area.

Well said Gazespana

[wildside]

Hi Olive,

Thanks for sending me the snake pictures....

Your snake is a harmless southern smooth snake. If anyone else wants info on Olives snake then you'll have to PM me... However here is a picture of a young southern smooth snake......

[wildside]

I forgot to say,

Yes, there does seem to be more snakes of various species around... I put this down to the past three years of exceptional weather conditions ideal for snakes in the wild... Good news as an alternative to nasty chemicals to control rat population explosions due to wasteful humans....

[masterob]

If I was asked to choose which I felt the greatest fear of - snakes or rats, I think I would have to opt for snakes. Illogical I know. Whilst rats pose a definite health risk, I feel I understand what that risk is. Coming from the UK where snakes are a rarity, I have no real appreciation of the risk snakes in Andalucia actually pose. I just think, probably quite wrongly, that they are all dangerous and thus a major health risk. Despite reading web sites and Wild Life books detailing which snakes are here, they rarely provide clear descriptions or pictures or what the risk to humans is for each one. The picture above is the first really clear one I have seen. I have to confess that I have had a couple of snakes like that in the garden and I´m afraid they were quickly dispatched. A pity if they really are totally harmless.

I won´t even mention spiders!

[wildside]

This is is exactly why I publish freely, information on many aspects of the wildlife of Iberia...

Yes, you have killed completely harmless snakes for no reason other than a fear of something that no one has ever showed you is needless... We can cure that fear easily..... Actually... right click the picture above and you will see where the picture originates from in its properties...

Clive

[K chameleon]

Started to google Montpelier snake, then thought better of it
It did say it was venemos tho. Didn't look at any photos.
Hubby saw a 2mt. long snake last week, then yesterday the Farmer showed him one he'd killed.
He said they used to have a 'pet' one(for keeping down rats), but it bit his son and he was ill in bed for 2 weeks

Give them a wide birth I say.
Trod on the hose pipe last night, it made a hissing sound, I felt a shortness of breath

[masterob]

Clive, you are right, ignorance is a great catalyst for fear. I have found your web site and it looks very, very interesting. I will study it with great interest. Many thanks.
Rob

[masterob]

Trod on the hose pipe last night, it made a hissing sound, I felt a shortness of breath

Only a shortness of breath? I´d be dead!

[Wicksey]

A small snake, like the one in your photo Wildside, had fallen into our pool last week and managed to put its head through the basket in the skimmer. It was stuck fast and still alive despite the fact that it must have been under water for some time. We tried pulling it out, then pushing its head back out through the basket, but it just wouldn't budge. We felt awful about it and really had no choice than to chop its head off. Could you have suggested another way of releasing it?

[olive]

Hi Wildside

many thanks for the ID of the snake. Very interesting info.

I am having a go now at Id'ing another critter we see regularly when disturbing loose soil heaps. To the casual observer it looks like a slow worm. maybe up to six inches long.Grey uniform single colour. Very active. Very keen to get back into soil as soon as possible. When they feel under attack they coil and strike like a snake. They have a tiny mouth and eyes. can't recall whether they have "ears". I have shown two to Spanish neighbours. One lot recalled in horror and said it was dangerous whilst the second said it was harmless. We call them flowerpot snakes but they aren't of course. I suspect they are maybe a harmless legless lizard. Only got very slow dial up so site searches are difficult. Can't find the photo that I thought I had.

Any ideas anyone?

olive

[El Cid]

This is is exactly why I publish freely, information on many aspects of the wildlife of Iberia... Unfortunately I am unable to share the information pages with you as admin deem me as an advertiser.... You can PM me though...

Yes but you are free to post your own replies - it isn't always necessary to link to the site - I think we all know about it and, I hope, use it.

We have had a number of snakes around our house and the Montpelier is the largest. The most common is the Horseshoe Whipsnake.

An I right in thinking that the only dangerous snake in Spain is the viper? We certainly haven't seen any of those. Scorpions and Megarian Banded Centipedes seem to be a higher risk and we have frequently seen them - in fact one of the centipedes bit me once in bed!

Sid

[wildside]

Yes but you are free to post your own replies - it isn't always necessary to link to the site - I think we all know about it and, I hope, use it.

That is impossible in many cases as the articles are full of images and a lot of text. It is easier and more informative to simply be able to link to the article about a certain species...

Olive, your little reptile may be an Iberian Worm Lizard (Blanus cinereus) Culebrilla ciega... They are completely harmless

[wildside]

Hi Wiksey,

That's a shame you had to kill the snake although it sometimes happens... Its possible your one was a viperina.. another harmless one (that is not a viper ) that lives in or near to water... How to stop it happening again? Maybe you could change the skimmer basket for something with smaller holes? These things happen but at least you tried to get it out....

We rescued this Montpelier snake last year.. It got stuck whilst trying to get at our chickens.. It was a bit scary with the thing striking and hissing but it couldn't do much damage caught up like it was... The last piece of wire i cut let it get away safely and gladly it went in the opposite direction

[Gazespana]

Great Info wildside !

I've asked the locals but no one is able to recall anyone being bitten by a Montpelier, any ideas how bad the bite would be ? I know it is difficult for Montpeliers to bite humans as I'm told thier fangs are situated at the rear, having said that I wouldn't have tackled the one I saw, even without fangs it would have been like wrestling a Python !! Interestingly the other one that was waiting around for its mate was reared up by the chumba in a striking pose about a foot off the ground absolutely stone still , obviously waiting for an unsuspecting rat to pass by and we spoiled its day.

[wildside]

Hi,

Yes, the way the Montpelier snake rears up and waits stock still is very cobra like... I have some pictures somewhere of one doing it.... ???

I also found this brilliant website with some excellent information...

Venom
The Montpellier snake is a rear-fanged snake. This means that the fangs are situated at the back of the upper jaw. Symptoms of a bite are usually fever, swelling and headache which last a few hours, or up to a day at most. There have been no European fatalities due to a Montpellier snake bite. Prey is killed within minutes. For a human to get intoxicated, the snake would have to bite persistenly as the fangs are far to the rear of the mouth.

The in depth page with images is at
http://www.herpfrance.com/reptile/montp ... ulanus.php

[olive]

Wildside, No it isn't one of those.

They are a little thinner and a uniform silver grey. Very, very active.

olive

[wildside]

OK Olive,

In that case it sounds like a skink... We have two species here (There are no slow worms in Andalucia).. Both species of skinks are very wriggly Completely harmless and not venomous....

Western Three-Toed Skink (Chalcides striatus) Eslizón tridáctilo


And the Bedriagai’s Skink (Chalcides bedriagai) Eslizón iberíco


If it isn't one of those i shall be very very interested to know what it is

[patricia]

What a pity you killed that snake, but perhaps next time you will have a little more tolerance of the animals we share the planet with. There hasnt been a death from a snake in Europe in donkeys years, wasps kill more people than snakes. Even if you were bitten you would only feel unwell for a few days or so. The venom of a snake is the same as money to you its how it catches its prey, and they must eat after all! A snake does not want to waste its venom on something it cant eat and only in extreme cases will it act out of self defence and even then it has to be extremely pushed to do so.

As for me I love seeing them. Used to see them a lot in Almeria. I have had them in my bedroom, in the lounge, in the swimming pool - when I lived in the campo -. I photographed them then I popped them outside and on their way.

Try to read up about them and learn something. Lovely photographs from wildside. We ought to have "love a snake day"!