Snakes: have you ever seen one in the wild, in the UK or anywhere else ?

[WildRosie]

I haven't so my contributions here will be limited. However, I find snakes fascinating creatures, even though they give me the creeps and I sometimes have nasty snake dreams. I'd love to see a grass snake catching some rays after laying her eggs in the spring, or an adder mellowing out among the heather. But I haven't yet. We don't get smooth snakes in Yorkshire so zero chance there. Please share your legless reptile stories. Slow worms don't count.

My dad and mum had a huge grass snake that visited their garden everyday last summer. It would lie on the metal covering on the pond sunning itself and would go for a swim in the pond every now and then.

yes, grass snakes.
and one very small adder once, maybe the size of a pencil.

a gila monster in arizona in the desert on a hike. I didn't see a snake on that hike, but heard a rattle snake.

OP I’ve seen an adder in yorkshire. Don’t know if that’s a smooth snake? I bloody hate snakes!!
Went to Bali, was terrified of cobras but only saw a squished dead one, then came back to the UK and saw a grass snake happily swimming along in the river 😰

I saw an adder on a surrey heathland a few years back. I saw a grass snake this year.

Saw a big one in Australia. The dog of the family we were staying with bit it almost in half and it was bleeding to death so my husband stamped on it to stop it suffering then threw it off the veranda. The family told us to find it and hide it as it’s illegal to kill snakes where they live.

Also saw a big (I think) cobra in the ruins of a Cambodian temple.

In England I’ve only ever seen a slowworm.

We had a grass snake in our garden when I was a kid, and I've seen adders a few times, mostly on exmoor. DH once went behind a tree to pee, looked down to see one slithering away.

And once when we lived in the US, walking on a trail in the Blue Ridge mountains, a snake slithered across our path - we realised we hadn't a clue what it was. We walked back up out of that valley in about half the time it had taken us to walk down. turned out it was something harmless, I think a garter snake.

Saw some sort of adder curled up in a wall at Oradour Sur Glane in France and twice in Florida we had a snake in the villa pool.

A grass snake in Dorset, and a boa constrictor in the Amazon jungle!

Oh my god @Gordonbennit I’m never going to Yorkshire again!!! Sorry mum and dad!!
Wild boar though .... yum!

Lovley big grass snake swimming in the Thames this summer!

A grass snake next to our wheelie bin. Wanted to move house. I hate snakes.

An adder sunning itself on a sand dune in Wales.

Grass snakes along the canal

Lots of snakes when we lived in the States. Mostly copperheads, water snakes and black racers. We had one that took up residence on our porch for a while. I used to like seeing them.

A grass snake swimming in the Avon last summer. It was fascinating to watch.

I have seen lots, mostly what we called garter snakes. I have encountered them while swimming in a lake. They are harmless but always get my heart pumping.

My sister was lying floating on an air mattress one warm day and a garter snake climbed onboard to sun itself. Much screaming!

I have also seen a rattlesnake in the dry central interior of British Columbia. Now those you give a wide berth.

I'd be more afraid of a wild boar than any British snake.

I know someone who was bitten by an adder. He was a molecatcher, he'd accidentally sat on it while working so he felt a bit of a fool. Made him feel poorly for a day or so but I don't think he bothered getting any sort of medical help. Afaik it depends quite a lot on body weight, more serious for a small child or a dog than a fully grown adult.

@Coffeeoverload

Oh my god *@Gordonbennit* I’m never going to Yorkshire again!!! Sorry mum and dad!! Wild boar though .... yum!

tbh I'm more scared of wild boar than native to north europe snakes.

Yes, we have grass snakes in the huge compost pile at the end of the garden most years. Though the first time I saw one (years ago now) slithering over the grass, they move surprisingly quickly, I didn’t know if it was an adder or grass snake (I now know they’re nothing alike). As we had dogs, I put a wooden crate over it while I googled and the poor thing regurgitated a frog! I felt so bad when I realised it was a harmless grass snake, though there were plenty of frogs in the pond so it probably found another soon after. Then only adder I’ve seen was, as PP, squished in the road (totally dead), when horse riding, quite near home, so they must be out there somewhere.

I've seen a baby copperhead snake in America and many snakes when I lived in the Far East. I was used to them from living abroad as a child, so I've never been scared, just wary enough to be cautious of them.

Yes! One of my cats caught a grass snake and brought it to me as a present.

Not in the uk but I'm Australian, so, yes. Lots of very big ones, several very very deadly ones.

Yes, I saw one in a forest near Seattle, Washington and one on a campsite in Croatia.

Really don't like them. They frighten me. I have seen snakes three times. On two occasions, I only found them fascinating. They were venomous but a bite would not necessarily be fatal as far as I know. I went closer to get a good look. This was in Europe.

I also saw one in Thailand. This was at night so it was dark. we were on a bit of decking by the ocean and suddenly a dark snake slithers by. My knees turned to jelly and I could barely move. I am not sure why this scared me so much more than the other two times. Perhaps because it felt as if many more could surface from between the boards I was standing on at the time. Awful

Sussex has a lot of adders, and grass snakes nest in my compost bin most years, the cat just ignores them.
I’ve seen adders a few times when out walking, they’re usually sunbathing and move off when I arrive.

A few adders, one corner of my granny's driveway in Devon (a farm, so less posh than it sounds) was called Adder Corner as there was often one there sunning itself, and a good few grass snakes (Warwickshire, Devon, Kent, Surrey) - although recently only squashed! A few slowworms (Devon, Midlands), which I know aren't snakes but are gorgeous: ds managed to catch it and had a lovely cuddle ;-)

My dad kept snakes when I was younger (boas & garter snakes), so when we spotted a grass snake locally, went down with his snake bag and caught it, so I could take it into school (it was the 70s...and he would have thought this was a perfectly sensible thing to do). I don't remember the finer details, so have no idea if the teachers were prewarned, or I just turned up with a writing canvas bag of snake... but it was put into some sort of tank in the classroom and escaped within about an hour. The head met it half way across the hall and let it out the side door ;-) I wonder how many school kids we scarred for life that day....

Grass snakes are seen swimming in the river near us quite often over the summer: would love to see that - I have a wild swimming friend who had one swim onto her hand, which I imagine isn't to everyones taste!