# Baby slow worm



## mattrolls (Apr 16, 2007)

I have just had 9 baby slow worms from one of my adult ones and i'm looking to keep them for a while and then release them once they are a little bigger. i was wondering what to feed them on as they are so small. i have some micro crickets on order but want to know if there is anything else i can feed them.


----------



## SilverSteno (Feb 12, 2006)

I wouldn't feed them a lot of crickets crickets mainly because in the wild that isn't a big part of their diet as they focus on slower moving prey such as slugs, snails, earthworms etc


----------



## mattrolls (Apr 16, 2007)

i put some earth worms and slugs in but they are a bit too small at the moment to eat these things i put some soil in from a compost heap and hopefully it will be full of bugs for them.


----------



## liam.b (Sep 2, 2006)

cut the earth worms up :grin1:


----------



## rob-stl-07 (Jun 3, 2007)

yh liam.b's rite, just cut up the earthworms, btw does any1 know if slowworms eat woodlice??? jus outta interest. btw look out for those big black ground beetles, there really dangerous especially for the baby sloworms. hope that helped


----------



## liam.b (Sep 2, 2006)

ya slow worms eat anything :lol2:


----------



## liam.b (Sep 2, 2006)

it just came to me though:hmm: why have you got slow worms,they are endangered and its illegal to catch them from the wild???


----------



## Blazin (Mar 25, 2007)

Its LEGAL to catch them and keep em , its ILLEGAL to sell them on / give them out / trade


----------



## tombraider (May 6, 2006)

I think you can catch and keep but not trade


----------



## CARLA (Mar 19, 2007)

Wow no way did i no that, i once caught one, and was intersted in 'slow' they actually went...but much to my dissapointment it lasted about 1 minute in my hand and slithered off to freedom in the garden....owwwwww


----------



## mattrolls (Apr 16, 2007)

i put in some cut up earth worms, i'll let you know what they do in the next few days:grin1:


----------



## zoe6660 (Jun 3, 2007)

baby slow worms love ants i seen them buy ants all the time and small white slugs, baby woodlice, small spiders and little grass hoppers from out side i use to have a slow worm he was dieing but we fed him up and let him go.  hope this helps.


----------



## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

Blazin said:


> Its LEGAL to catch them and keep em , its ILLEGAL to sell them on / give them out / trade


Cant you sell them if they're in a generation older than 3rd generation of being CB. if you can prove they are. They can be sold


----------



## markhill (Sep 22, 2006)

Trice said:


> Cant you sell them if they're in a generation older than 3rd generation of being CB. if you can prove they are. They can be sold


yes you can sell them, but you have _to able to prove_ they are 3rd generation CB which is going to be hard to do.


----------



## beardedgaz (Mar 31, 2007)

white slugs use white slugs my wife works with the council preserving nature and habitat yes they are indangered and its illegal to keep them a specialist told us today o well if ya keep them he said white slugs are there fav i love slowies and they have a great little bite


----------



## njp (Mar 4, 2007)

I never knew slow worms were endandered, my kids find hundreds of them.


----------



## MissG (Aug 1, 2007)

Blazin said:


> Its LEGAL to catch them and keep em , its ILLEGAL to sell them on / give them out / trade


Thats not true. You need to prove they are captive bred to sell them etc. Which is hard, but not impossible.


----------



## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

MissG said:


> Thats not true. You need to prove they are captive bred to sell them etc. Which is hard, but not impossible.



Couldnt you take pics on the date they are born.. that way you'd have proof due to the date on the pics?


----------



## beardedgaz (Mar 31, 2007)

its a shame we never hardly see them when i was a nipper it was like a scene from dennis the menace on me bike with a little trailer full of slow worms, lizards, fogssborn, newts,toads ha ha they were the days and especially my trusty catapult good luck with them i love the gold and bronze in the baby one s of the best reps in my view :mf_dribble:


----------



## slamingsalsa (Aug 5, 2007)

*yeah*

wow ive had my 3 sloworms for 2 week and now theyve had like 5 babies and tommorow im going on holiday and im going to have to leave them in my nans care cause i dont want to rlease them as ill catch the adults again but not the babies and then the babies will die cause these no slowrms to look after them and i feed my on compost and the just take out what they need as their are small insects in there and woodlouse for the adults and they eat the compost but i thought the mother would feed them at first and me and my dad want to know how long the baby is in the mothers tummy


----------



## slamingsalsa (Aug 5, 2007)

im going to get some photos so i ca prove they are captive bred as this is 2nd generation


----------



## MissG (Aug 1, 2007)

Trice said:


> Couldnt you take pics on the date they are born.. that way you'd have proof due to the date on the pics?


I think that's all you can do, whether it's enough i'm not sure. After all you could have found them that day, and then took photos of them...? Not that I am saying that's the case though.


----------



## slamingsalsa (Aug 5, 2007)

after my holiday ill post sum photos


----------



## SuperTed (Apr 19, 2007)

:lol2: my slow worm is still going strong caught it eating quite a few times! had it for agesss now!


----------



## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

I really want a slow worm. Lol


----------



## SuperTed (Apr 19, 2007)

slow worms are awesome lol quite often mine drinks water from my hand : victory:


----------



## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

I caught one in France, but obviously had to release it lol.
You bred yours? and have them older than 3rd Generation CB?


----------



## slamingsalsa (Aug 5, 2007)

i dont breed on purpose but i thought they might and they do


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

MissG said:


> I think that's all you can do, whether it's enough i'm not sure. After all you could have found them that day, and then took photos of them...? Not that I am saying that's the case though.


In order to prove it I would want to do the following:

1. Photos of the gravid female
2. Photos of the female actually GIVING birth
3. Photos of the female with the newly born offspring

And before I sold them I'd be strongly considering DNA typing. The burden of proof that the babies are captive bred is on the breeder - the courts/DEFRA do not have to prove they weren't. The photos would have to be something that couldn't just be "I went out and grabbed a bunch of wild ones and threw 'em together for the photo!" That's why I'd want photos of the female actually giving birth or to have DNA evidence that the adult female is the mother of the babies and that she was in captivity at the time of giving birth.

Slamingsalsa: Your baby slow worms do not need their parents to look after them. Adult slow worms abandon their babies when they're born and do not take care of them at all. The mothers do not feed them like mammals or birds - the babies have to find food for themselves from the day they are born.

In other lizard species you'd actually need to worry that the parents would EAT the babies, but I don't believe slow worms are cannibalistic.


----------



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes, that's actually true - I've just checked it out.

I've always thought that it was illegal to keep them, but apparently not!

It says:

_The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only applies to 'wild animals': these are defined as those that are living wild or were living wild before being captured or killed. It does not apply to captive-bred animals being held in captivity. However, animals in gardens (e.g. newts in garden ponds) and captive-bred animals that have been released to the wild are likely to be included in this definition._

On an earlier thread I said you couldn't keep adders, but to the person who started the thread, the Act also says:

_ Keeping adders is prohibited by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, unless licensed by the Local Authority._

So you can keep British reptiles, including slow worms, but you can't trade them, so what are you gonna do with the babies???


----------



## Night Spider (May 9, 2021)

beardedgaz said:


> white slugs use white slugs my wife works with the council preserving nature and habitat yes they are indangered and its illegal to keep them a specialist told us today o well if ya keep them he said white slugs are there fav i love slowies and they have a great little bite


 Just wondering is it illegal or unlawful, because one implys obligation and the other is governed and enforced by consent 🤔


----------



## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Night Spider said:


> Just wondering is it illegal or unlawful, because one implys obligation and the other is governed and enforced by consent 🤔


Ancient thread from years back.


----------



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

wilkinss77 said:


> Ancient thread from years back.


 Has to be a good contender for opening the oldest thread yet !!! - 2007 - Bloody 'ell !!


----------

