What Am I? Hint: I'm Not A Snake

She's beauty, she's grace. Look at that pretty face. Photo by: Liam Russell

Imagine this, you're working in your garden on a sunny afternoon in May. The birds are tweeting merrily as you deweed your vegetable patch, the sun warming your back. You reach for a particularly tough weed and as you wrestle, something thin and slender slithers past your hand. In a panic you fall backwards, taking the weed with you. Sweeping the soil from your lap you notice what has startled you. But what exactly is it? It looks like a snake or maybe a very large weird looking worm. But it is in fact neither of those. What you are looking at is a slow worm.

But what is a slow worm?

Despite its noodle shape and lack of limbs, the slow worm is in fact a legless lizard and is completely harmless. Slow worms are found throughout England, Scotland and Wales. These reptiles can be found between March and October, living in densely vegetated areas, woodland glades, pastures, heath and scrubland and your garden! Logs, flat pavestones, garden waste and compost heaps all make prime slow worm homes. They predominantly eat soft bodied invertebrates, such as slugs and snails, which is why you may find them around your vegetable patch. They can grow to roughly 50cm in length and live for on average 30 years.

You may frequently encounter slow worms in your garden or allotment due to the fact that gardens typically provide a large variation of habitats in a small area, such as compost heaps, stone walls or rock piles, hedges, rough grass, loose disturbed soil (perfect for burrowing), and garden waste. Furthermore, gardens are frequently watered which promotes constant slug activity- a slow worm's favourite meal. Slow worms are great to have in your garden because they can naturally control the slug and snail populations within your garden without the need for you to buy slug repellent! However, if you are a cat lover, you may find your garden devoid of these scaly critters as cats commonly predate slow worms. Foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, birds, weasels and other snakes, like the grass snake, are also common predators of the slow worm.

Slow worms are thigmothermic, meaning they thermoregulate through conduction with warm objects. Therefore, it is rare to find a slow worm basking in the sun. They are more commonly found keeping warm under things such as rocks or logs, of artificial items, like corrugated iron. Corrugated iron or roofing felt are fantastic artificial refuge sites, under which slow worms can thermoregulate safely. You are most likely to see a slow worm above ground on warm evenings or just after it's rained, when there are a lot of slugs out.

But how can you tell that it's a slow worm and not a snake?

If you look closely at the slow worm's head you may notice it has eyelids, something that snakes are lacking. You may be thinking, "well, I don't really want to be close enough to see if it has eyelids or not". If this is you, don't worry, there are other identifiable features that distinguish the slow worm from snakes. Slow worms have a uniform cylindrical shape and no distinct "neck", unlike snakes. And if you're lucky enough to see a slow worm's tongue, you will see it is flat and broad in shape with a small fork at the end. This is different to a snake's tongue, which is skinnier and has a larger more distinct fork.

Look at that tongue! Photo by: Amy Adams

This male is the Brad Pitt of slow worms. Photo by: John Dickenson

Slow worms also have very smooth and shiny indistinguishable scales, and vary from grey to light copper in colour. Females are typically more brownish in colour than males and have darker sides with a stripe down their backs. The males have a paler grey colouration with blue speckled markings.

Fresh out the worm. This is a juvenile slow worm. Photo by: Liam Russell

Slow worms breed during April/May and the juveniles then emerge in August. During mating, male slow worms will hold the female in his jaws, gently biting onto her neck and intertwining their bodies. It might not seem like much to us, but to a slow worm, this is the height of passion. Mating courtships can last up to 10 hours! Unlike most reptiles, slow worms are ovoviviparous, meaning they keep their eggs internally and then give birth to live young. Juvenile slow worms are very small and thin, measuring in at 4cm long, and are dark brown or copper in colour with a stripe down their backs.

Cannibalism or courtship? These slow worms are actually in the midsts of a mating courtship! Photo by: Colin Tracy

Slow worms are considered "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, however like most British wildlife, they are threatened by habitat loss from increased urbanisation, agricultural intensification, and they often fall victim to road kill and predation from domestic cats.

Here's how you can help

Gardens are great habitats for slow worms. But to make your garden even better you can leave piles of sticks, prunings and logs in a secluded corner of your garden. These will provide excellent shelter for slow worms and will attract invertebrates for the slow worms to eat. Allowing an area of your garden to grow wilder will also attract more invertebrates to your garden, which is better for the ecosystem and provides slow worms with more food.

Having a compost heap is super beneficial for slow worms and other reptiles. Allow your compost heap to rot down naturally over several months. Slow worms love the warmth given off by the decay, and it provides the perfect nesting site, as well as a warm place to hibernate during the colder months. Be careful to not disturb any sheltering creatures when turning your compost. The best time to turn your compost is in May after slow-worm mating season, and October after juveniles are born.

Reducing your use in garden chemicals and pesticides, better yet stopping all together, will greatly benefit slow worms and other wildlife in your garden. Using these garden chemicals disrupts the ecological balance within your garden by removing key species from the food web. Having a healthy population of creatures like slow worms, frogs, toads, birds and spiders will help naturally control the number of pest species in your garden, restoring the natural ecological equilibrium, so you won't need to spend your money on harmful chemicals anymore!

Please note...

If you are fortunate enough to have a slow worm in your garden, it is best you appreciate its awesomeness from afar and leave it be. Slow worms are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it an offence to kill, injure or sell them. They also do not suit a captive lifestyle and don't make great pets, so it's best to leave them in your vegetable patch.

Although it is not an offence of handle a slow worm, or move it to a different part of your garden, it is recommended that you avoid handling these creatures as it can cause them considerable stress and improper handling technique can cause the creature harm.

This handsome male has some very funky blue markings. Photo by: Jason Steel

Some cool slow worm facts to share with your mates:

Did you know slow worms can drop their tails?

Despite looking like a head and one big tail, slow worms do in fact have a body and a tail. Slow worms drop their tails as a defence mechanism to escape predators. It does not cause them pain and the tail can regrow, although not to the same length. Despite this, it is not recommended you go out of your way to deliberately make a slow worm drop its tail. Regrowing a tail is energetically costly and can mean the slow worm does not have enough sustenance to make it through hibernation.

Slow worms have a pelvis!

Looking at a slow worm you would think it has a skeleton much like a snakes- one long spine with lots of pairs of ribs. But this scaly noodle does in fact have a pelvis, like its fellow lizard relatives.

Slow worms have backwards facing teeth!

The teeth of a slow worm face backwards, allowing them to eat slimy soft bodied invertebrates, like slugs and snails. They have a particular liking for small white slugs.

Slow worms can eat up to 50 slugs a day!

Yummy. They can also suck snails out of their shells. Unfortunate for the snails, but a pretty cool skill to have.

Slow worms are actually more closely related to komodo dragons than they are to snakes!

They may look like snakes but slow worms are in fact a distant relative of the komodo dragon despite showing little resemblance.

Look at that cheeky smile! Photo by: David Chapman

Here's some further reading to indulge on!

Here's some more indepth information on how you can help slow worms! https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/B1-Slow-Worms-other-Reptiles-Amphibians.pdf

This handy handbook made by ARC Trust gives loads of information on all the different British amphibian and reptile species! http://downloads.gigl.org.uk/website/Reptile%20Habitat%20Management%20Handbook.pdf