Kitchen Garden Forum

Down at lottie - cold & crisp & frosty - there was the adder warming herself on an old layed down fence post! Scared the life out of me as I was in & out of there getting the black plastic out to cover the bare soil. Worried about her not too fat & out too late! Shouldn't she be hibernating by now??
Westi

Picture now been on a diet.

Oops! Sorry xx Westi How the hell did that get so wide!

Wow some snake, have you got a pond and frogs, that attracts them.

We've just put a rescue hedgehog into our greenhouse. Had discovered it wandering around in the garden a couple of weeks ago, so took it to the Gower Wild Bird Rescue place. At 500 gms it wouldn't have survived and had lungworm, which is probably why it was wandering around in broad daylight. Now a healthy 700 gms and with luck should make it through the winter. Has a nice box to go back to until it finds a proper place to hibernate. As long as it doesn't take to the greenhouse!

No pond or anything that should attract except the hedgerow & all the small game that comes with it! I think I have had her Mum removed before by the rangers prevously so she just took up the territory - look back at my post & you will see how much bigger Mum was!

Westi

Westi wrote:Down at lottie - cold & crisp & frosty - there was the adder warming herself on an old layed down fence post! Scared the life out of me as I was in & out of there getting the black plastic out to cover the bare soil. Worried about her not too fat & out too late! Shouldn't she be hibernating by now??
Westi

Lucky you to have adders.

I wonder if she is attracted to Westi's allotment, by the hidden, empty wine bottles.

OH That means she'd live under my neighbour's shed!

Westi

Well Westi I am outraged that you throw your empty bottles under your neighbours shed
JB.

JB

I consider it assisting them with their insulation - they will have to chit their spuds in there soon! Funnily in my very first job I caught my boss disposing of her empties in the firm's bins - had to hide that little fact if I was to keep my job. Didn't tell my work colleagues but told my mates!!

But on a serious note will she survive? Should I provide anything to help her? I know you aren't supposed to but with such a miserable summer she needs a chance - I know where her winter quarters are.

Westi

I don't know whether adders would try eating a little meat from a cat food pouch. Is their diet mainly insects and acquarian wildlife? Worth a try. Am sure if she's hungry she will give it a try. I don't know whether they have any sense of smell.

Snakes have a very good sense of smell, their olfactory organs are located in the tongue, which is why they flick them in and out when investigating. Their sight is not so good I think, though they can see moving objects better. They also have one very long lung, and the heart can be moved to the side of the body when large prey is being swallowed. Fascinating stuff! I dont know what adders eat or whether cat food would be suitable, so I'm not being much help really.

Adders eat small prey such as lizards, nestlings, small rodents, frogs etc which they first inject with venom and swallow whole so I'm not convinced that they would take bits of dead meat.

Snakes can go for very long periods without feeding. Apparently a newly born adder doesn't feed until the year following its birth. Until then it lives off a yolk supply in their body (they are born live) and fat reserves that it was born with.

Adders hibernate in holes such as empty burrows but I guess these could be waterlogged in some places so maybe providing a pile of straw under some sort of cover is the best you can do for it.

She was not out today, but it wasn't going to warm anybody outside so hopefully she is in her burrow. As I was weeding I collected up all the long grass and threw it into her burrow so hopefully will be a bit warmer & drier for her. Will have to wait now until spring to see if she makes it.

She actually might be a good size for her age - I can only compare her to her mother who was monster so must have been quite old. She lives in the little snake sanctuary in the New Forest so they must have been impressed as well with her size to keep her rather than just re-locate.

Westi