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.

Yes, many times.
When lived & travelled in US saw rattle snake, water moccasin, grass snake, corn snake, rat snake, copperhead, green garter snake.
China saw bamboo viper, Krait, and a coral snake..
Here in France asp viper, grass snakes
Never saw a snake when I lived in U.K. though.

I’m in Cornwall, very rural. I have seen adult grass snakes in our garden several times. Then, during lockdown, DH and DD came back from a bike ride with a baby grass snake they had found in the road right outside our house. We released it by our pond and it was around for about a fortnight afterwards.
I have also seen an adder out on a dog walk, just curled up in the sun. I kept the dog away but had a good look from a distance. He was beautiful.

Oh, and a slow worm last year, by the compost heap. (Not a snake, I know).

When I lived in Australia I saw a brown snake sunbathing on the rocks at the beach (there were warning signs about)

Here a grass snake

In Asia a number of snakes one under our bed in a beach hut

Heard a rattle snake in LA my nephew saw it I froze

I saw a grass snake years ago, and my dd saw a real whopper this summer down by the river near the back of our house. She managed to film it on her mobile as it slithered off. It was a barred grass snake and a good metre long. Quite chunky round the middle too, so possibly a pregnant female due to lay eggs.

I have seen adders several times while out and about in the Lake District, they blend in so well with some of the bracken, and never fail to make me jump when they slither across the path.

I've also come across grass snakes several times while out walking. Most recently was in the summer when I was out for a walk on a quiet, sunny track. The snake was curled up soaking up the rays and our approaching footsteps must have disturbed it. It gracefully and silently slid away into the darkness of the hedge. It was a bit of a whopper and I was thrilled to have spotted it.

My dad narrowly avoided picking up a snoozing snake in his veg patch, thinking it was the end of a coiled hose pipe. Luckily the snake was more alert than my dad and slid away. Needless to say, poor old dad got quite a shock

One drawback with having snakes resident near your garden pond, stream or compost heap is that these features also attract amphibians. Snakes like amphibians which is unfortunate but, on the plus side, they also get rid of vermin like mice and rats. As do herons. Our ecosystems are complex.

Heard a rattle snake in LA my nephew saw it I froze

We went to the Griffith Observatory and decided to go on a hike. 20 yards in there was a warning sign about rattle snakes...and that was as far as I hiked. I spent the afternoon gazing at the view of LA from the cafe terrace while waiting for my husband and sons.

I very perturbed by the reports of snakes sightings this summer

I grew up near an AONB in the midlands and have seen an adder slithering up a tree one warm summer evening. Also had a warning from another dog walker than there were adders in the undergrowth. I'm terrified of snakes so I retreated sharpish

MadisonAvenue they are in the hills around LA

And coyotes (ok not snake like at all but scary coming face to face with two of them)

Grass snake in our local pond, tried to look for adders for years in the New Forest but end up going to look at an animal centre in the end

Have seen several snakes on the road including one I ran over on Zante

Also think I hit one snake on the road 50 Myra front Mums house in. Spain. We saw it on the road with a lizard in its mouth, tried to stop and the bloody lizard hit the windscreen, we both squealed

Looked it up and think it was a Montpelier snake

Hi OP, I see snakes every day in my house! one corn snake and five ball pythons, TBF one of the pythons belongs to DD, the rest are mine 😁
I don't recall ever seeing one in the wild though, shame as I'd be tempted to bag it and take it home 😂

Hi OP, I see snakes every day in my house! one corn snake and five ball pythons, TBF one of the pythons belongs to DD, the rest are mine 😁
I don't recall ever seeing one in the wild though, shame as I'd be tempted to bag it and take it home 😂

Yes, quite often, in bracken in the lake district; in caves in wales

And most memorably, on an A level geography trip to the Peak District, when one lad picked up a snake and showed it to the teacher. It bit him and he had to be rushed to hospital, leaving us all stranded and waiting for a replacement minibus. Teacher was fine in the end.

Yep. Grass snake swimming across a lake in Surrey. I didn't realise just how big they got, but it was beautiful.

Sorry, posted twice.

I recall my mother flatly refusing to get out of the car at a rest stop in the arizona desert once because it had a 'beware of snakes' sign.
Funny thing was, there was a large dead snake of some description by the side of the road. I was fascinated with it and mother was still desperate for a wee as we got into Ghila Bend.

My friend used to have a boa called baby. All 13 foot of it was rather friendly and would slither over to say hi when you went for a coffee. She rehomed her eventually as she was just too big for the small house DF lived in.

I've seen an adder basking on a rock near Goonhilly Downs in Cornwall.
And a garter snake in Algonquin National Park Ontario.
I once saw a grass snake at the end of my garden.
And my neighbour has a ginormous grass snake living on her land, it swims across her pond and you'd think it was an anaconda.

DH nearly stepped on this one on a surprisingly busy path on the North York Moors

Nice pics fuming. Does anyone know if any snakes not native to the British Isles would be able to survive our climate ? I guess the smooth snake stays in the southwest for the milder climate. I'm not suggesting for a minute anyone should be releasing invasive species - we already have terrapins and parakeets resident in England at least. I don't think I'd want my first wild snake encounter to be with a Burmese python or Emerald boa, although it would make a very boastful claim.

I've seen an Adder in Bradgate Park in Leicestershire but it's well known to have them so I imagine there's quite a lot there

We also have a grass snake living under a large mat someone has dumped in the field behind our house

I'm not too bothered by snakes either way but I'm not sure I'd dare hold one

@Fuss

I recall my mother flatly refusing to get out of the car at a rest stop in the arizona desert once because it had a 'beware of snakes' sign. Funny thing was, there was a large dead snake of some description by the side of the road. I was fascinated with it and mother was still desperate for a wee as we got into Ghila Bend.

My friend used to have a boa called baby. All 13 foot of it was rather friendly and would slither over to say hi when you went for a coffee. She rehomed her eventually as she was just too big for the small house DF lived in.

I hope when you got to Gila Bend no one mentioned the eponymous Gila Monster!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster

Female grass snakes are usually a fair bit bigger than the males (similarly with sparrowhawks); they can grow to about three feet long which isn't a bad feat. Nothing compared to some pythons, however.

We have beautiful slow worms living in our garden. I last saw one a few months ago.
Little bronze snakes.

I seen an adder in the South Downs and also next to the river Don near Goole in East Yorkshire.
A cobra wriggled under my tent in Uganda one night when I was sleeping. I’m not scared of snakes generally, but I didn’t like that!