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Old 09-05-2011, 10:40 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Gopher Gopher is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2008
Posts: 364
Default Slow Worms Have a Bite!!!!

In message , Jake
writes
Checked my compost daleks today in anticipation of emptying them over
the beds and borders. Happy that both look like I've tipped a bag of
multi-purpose into them (and the exit holes at the bottom look equally
good).

Made big mistake!

Pushed hand down into one to feel what it was like in the middle.

Picture this - jiggling hand around to get it down as far as arm will
reach. Nice warm feeling on hand. Suddenly, great pain. Yank hand out,
complete with two slow worms firmly hanging on to fingers by their
teeth or whatever they have.

I was whacking them against the side of the daleks for a while before
they let go and slithered off somewhere (OK they're lizards that don't
slither but I wasn't worrying about semantics at that point). Sheesh!
The amount of blood; the size of the wounds.

Note to self - don't try rescuing slow worms from cat in future!

Three hours and dollops of TCP later and the hand is still stinging!


Slow worms certainly have the ability to bite (as you have discovered)
but your experience is _very_ rare; so you should be proud and display
your scars to all and sundry:-). The good news is that the bites are not
poisonous (as you have also discovered). In fact they are extremely
"brittle" animals (Anguis fragilis) and can shed their tail - 50 - 60%
of their body - to escape if caught. Cats are among the greatest dangers
they face.

I believe another group - uk.rec.natural-history - would be very
interested to hear of your experience as would several wildlife fora
(e.g. http://wildaboutbritain.co.uk, http://www.wildlifeuk.net etc.).
Why not post there too? Hope the stinging stops soon.

They're beautiful creatures and helpful to gardeners so please try to
forgive them; they must have been petrified:-))
--
Gopher .... I know my place!