# Slow Worms - Help!!!



## j.liddle (Jun 24, 2011)

Hi there, I am in desperate need of advice.

My mother (who very much needs a holiday) has just found out that area around the cottage she has booked is very popular with slow worms.

My mum is cripplingly phobic of snakes, and as much as slow worms are technically lizards, I'm pretty certain that there is enough resemblance to make her holiday much more terrifying than relaxing. Is there anything she can do to deter them from the porch/garden of the house? Are they scared off by noise or specific smells?

If anyone could respond, it would be massively helpful, I hate the thought of her her going away and spending her whole trip beside herself with fear.

Thank you so much in advance.

-Jodie


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

TBH she prolly wont see any unless a cat/raven drags one to her


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## j.liddle (Jun 24, 2011)

Thats reassuring, although the house owner said they enjoy to bask in the sun on the south facing embankments surrounding the house. Do you think he was exaggerating???


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## imitebmike (Jun 22, 2008)

well they do enjoy basking, but i would think that they would hide sharpish if they heard strange noises :O


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## jameskench (Sep 19, 2010)

I couldn't imagine slow worms just laying out im the open :hmm:Always thought they liked hiding under things rather then laying out in the open. Be quite a sight to see a colony of slow worms basking away :2thumb: best to just try and avoid them rather then disturb them, remember they are probably just as scared if not even more :gasp:


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## j.liddle (Jun 24, 2011)

:2thumb:
Thank you so much.
Promise I'll get a picture to upload if she does find a colony of sunworshipping slow worms. :lol2:


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## Chris18 (Mar 22, 2009)

Just tell her that they're lizards and like tortoises can retract their limbs into their bodies while they bask because they're aching from walking all day :whistling2:


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## jameskench (Sep 19, 2010)

j.liddle said:


> :2thumb:
> Thank you so much.
> Promise I'll get a picture to upload if she does find a colony of sunworshipping slow worms. :lol2:


 :lol2:I'll keep you to that, chances are they would scatter the minute they heard any sound anyway :whip:


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## jetski (Apr 7, 2008)

they would be aware of her presence way before she would be aware of theirs and they would "leg" it straight away. shes unlikely to stumble across them by accident unless she was creeping around. they are very timid lizards


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## kezzbag (Jan 16, 2011)

aww i remember when i caught a slow worm when i was little....it was basking inside my nans greenhouse...i took it home and it was a female...we had loads of slow worms in the garden after that...the good thing- no more slugs.

they tend to stay out of sight and mine always basked in the bushes (slither up into it and bask on top then hide inside)


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## jeweled lady (Aug 25, 2009)

Wow, what a find for a holiday home. I would spend all my holiday Slow Worm watching. Tell her she will be holidaying in at a great site of scientific interest, perhaps that will grab her imagination!


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## Silversnake84 (Jul 12, 2009)

There's a lot of things that you can do to discourage slow worms from gardens, such as keeping the grass low, getting rid of any interesting features that slow worms may like to bask under, getting rid of any compost piles, getting rid of any stone walls... but I don't advise doing that unless it's your own garden, I don't think the owner would be too pleased otherwise! He may like them or want in his garden... I know a lot of people who try to make their gardens attractive to slow worms and other reptiles on purpose, so tell her she's lucky 

In areas where development is high, peoples' gardens are sometimes the last refuge for slow worms... 

Yeah she probably won't see one unless she goes looking... maybe tell her to stay on the patio/where she can see everything by her feet(!) or if things are really that bad, perhaps go on hols somewhere away from any critters she doesn't want to encounter :s 

If she wants to get over her fear, if only of slow worms for the sake of the holiday, personally I'd get some piccies printed off from the net, sit down with her and explain what slow worms are and how they 'work'. Then, if she's ok with that, maybe you can show her a slow worm in the garden up close and explain that they aren't so scary as she might have thought... It's worked with a few people around here anyway, including my parents!! Good luck...


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## j.liddle (Jun 24, 2011)

Oh thank you so much everyone for putting my mind at ease! Its much appreciated! I'll try and logic the phobia out of her, and let her knowall your sound advice.

Its a cottage up in the middle of the Scottish Highlands near Durness, if anyone fancies a trip away to see them : P.


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## Silversnake84 (Jul 12, 2009)

j.liddle said:


> Oh thank you so much everyone for putting my mind at ease! Its much appreciated! I'll try and logic the phobia out of her, and let her knowall your sound advice.
> 
> Its a cottage up in the middle of the Scottish Highlands near Durness, if anyone fancies a trip away to see them : P.


Wow, they will be some pretty hard slow worms that far north! :notworthy:


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## Nigel_wales (Mar 24, 2009)

Silversnake84 said:


> Wow, they will be some pretty hard slow worms that far north! :notworthy:


 
Probaly venomous too :lol2:


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## Silversnake84 (Jul 12, 2009)

Nigel_wales said:


> Probaly venomous too :lol2:


Haha! Never know...


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## MaMExotics (Dec 4, 2010)

j.liddle said:


> Oh thank you so much everyone for putting my mind at ease! Its much appreciated! I'll try and logic the phobia out of her, and let her knowall your sound advice.
> 
> Its a cottage up in the middle of the Scottish Highlands near Durness, if anyone fancies a trip away to see them : P.


do u have a link to the place you could PM me??


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