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.

I saw a grass snake in my village and asked a kindly gent if he would put it in a safer place (it was about to try to cross the A16) and he was happy to.

I saw a Viper in Goa years ago, we were having a beer and heard lots of shouting and then saw it. It had been sunbathing by a swimming pool...

I know adders usually have some fancy zigzag pattern on their backs but occasionally they come in solid colours like deep red and black. I guess this is down to some sort of genetic mutation.

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

She was strangely ok with the idea of those. Though sadly we didn’t see one. She was great my mother. Once sat dying for the loo on a flight from Manchester to Spain and wouldn’t get up to use the toilet in case she got the wrong door and fell out. Of course my Father didn’t help her cause and would wind her up about these things. 😂

I’m a rubbish Australian. Lived here all my life and pretty sure I’ve never seen a snake in the wild [shocked]

When I was growing up we had a huge grass snake that lived in our garden, round the pond. We would find his skin when he shed and see him swim across the pond, or sleeping under a rock next to the water. (large garden, veyr large pond)

I saw an orange one once , and as I'd never seen a wild one before thought it was a worm( even with the hissing 🤔) it clicked after a few seconds lol !

I saw a grass snake slither off the cycle path ahead of me just a few weeks ago! I have seen them before a couple of times.

I saw an adder once in Northumberland, again in the middle of a path.

We also had a slow worm in our garden once (I know, technically a legless lizard but it looks like a snake!).

DH nearly kicked a snake in Canada once, I saw the poor little thing duck and gave it a wide berth! We also saw a massive, quite dangerous one when on a walk in Queensland, Australia.

@user1471481356

I’m in Australia, we see snakes almost every day!

especially this time of year! had a big red belly black snake shoot out in front of the car across the road on the school run last week.

we usually see more on the roads (nice and warm) than around our house but get 3 or 4 brown/red bellies a summer.

Saw an adder basking in Wiltshire years ago. Was on a cycling holiday and in the lead - it slithered off a stone but I saw the back.

In Kenya went to a snake farm, and held a huge python - about 16 feet long. One of my prized holiday pics.

Zero fear of snakes. Now spiders ... (shudders).

There's some IKEA soft toy snakes on ebay just now.

I've seen adders and grass snakes a few times.

Im naturally phobic of snakes but actually seeing them in the wild from a reasonable but close distance and then having corn snakes really got me more comfortable with them and I know its largely irrational. The feel of corn snakes especially (they're sort of plastic textured) helped kill the fear a lot as well.

A pair of mating Racers lived under our family house in North Carolina. Bro. had a list of friends wanting babies. They're great at keeping (eating) all the unwanted wildlife away from the house. Except the time when one slithered in "what's Cat playing with?" I asked....yep! They're big and black and very, well, snake looking, but not venomous. We've got a snake stick - long pole with a V shaped head we take with us when we're out. Lift em up and flip them aside...

Yes. Has anyone seen a snake ‘play dead’?!
It’s super strange ... some kind of freeze if disturbed. You would be sure they’re dead but then they leap back to life to (presumably) eat you alive

Yes, I've seen a Racer play dead. And the mating pair had never read the Reptilian Kama Sutra either. They're completely still too when they're dtd

Anyone else strangely fascinated but scrolling down veeery slowly in case of photographs?

Does my 7 foot boa count? He is currently looking at me from his viv. Love snakes but unfortunately haven’t seen one in the wild, plenty of slow worms though.

Had one on the school playground one year! Massively exciting!

Aw, I was going to tell you about my slow worm encounter.
So my answer is no 😂

I’ve seen adders in the New Forest. Also giant spider webs, giant ant nests and a hornet as big as your thumb. The place is Mirkwood.

Several in Florida.
One on our lawn
But none in uk

Plenty of snakes in Yorkshire! I've seen several grass snakes, one truly huge. It was swimming. My dad sees them all the time when fishing. No adders

Whilst working on a Surrey heathland we frequently saw adders, grass snakes and smooth snakes. Lots of sand lizards too. Once at the hole of horcum saw an adder coiled up next to a stile. I quite like them, handily as we used to have to move them off the greens (golf course) in the summer.

As a child in Devon I often saw grass snakes and rarely adders.
2 years ago my daughter was swimming in our pool, in France, when a whip snake came up through the filter pipe and swam towards her. God , I've never heard a scream like it! My husband netted it out and threw it over the hedge into the field.

giant spider webs

In Kenya there was a spiders web you could have driven a car through that was attached to one of the buildings that formed part of the complex. I thought I was very brave getting about 3 metres away to snap the critter sitting to the side that was the size of a football pitch (I may exaggerate ...). As I was focussing, a cleaner saw me, and offered to pick the spider up and hold it close so I could get "Good photo".

I never knew I could run that fast.