RAUK - Archived Forum - New Born Slowworms this year

Just a short note that the slowworms in my garden have just given birth - first noticed new born slowworms around my pond yesterday 28th August 2005 -

My dad has commented that he hasnt seen any signs of new born slowworms this year yet in Essex.... has other people got dates of new born slowwies this year?

Jon 

Yep I've got 'em. Sorry I put them on a thread 'Juvenile Slow Worms' within the past few days.

Out on a heath late this morning and lizards (viv) shooting off everywhere but no snakes. It was very hot (East Devon) and just out for a walk and not expecting much in the reptile line. Such a year for grasshopppers down here and saw a large dark bush cricket minus one leg.

Hi, im a newbie.

I was just wondering if any of you were going to sell a slow worm, i really like them and think they're cute. if anyone has one for sale, contact me

Unfortunately the selling of UK wild caught slowworms would be illegal - a criminal offence with a possible ú5,000 fine or six months in side under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

 so I wouldnt dream of offering any of my garden slowworms for sale - though it seems that sometimes European Slowworms are offered for sale......there was a post on here that highlighted a possible source though I wouldnt recommend keeping the poor little things

Regards

JC

Best to try and attract them to your garden with a good compost heap etc my slowworms are doing just fine out there even in this cold weather I hope

JC

oh...

cant you get a license for them? i thought there was a thread somewhere that said about this kinda thing...

You need to license to offer them for sale - as selling any British reptile is illegal - unless you can prove that they are captive bred animals - personally I would look at your garden to see if it suitable for slowworms - do you have a garden? slowworms do really well in gardens with rockeries, compost heaps, ponds even - I have a colony in my garden and they are doing fine - I have approx 20 to 25 animals which are breeding and are growing well - You can keep an eye on them by placing tin or carpet on the compost heap or by searching under flat stones in my case around the pond.

You see if there are slowworms in your area then there is no law to take a few and only a few to seed your garden if it is suitable - keeping slowworms indoors is not really required you just have to get use to the winter months when they are hibernating around your garden.

I have heard that slowworms do well in captivity - this is the beauty of having a garden population - you can collect them during the year and keep them in enclosures etc and then they can go back

I find keeping track of the babies and adults fascinating - their movements around the garden etc

Regards

jC

You see if there are slowworms in your area then there is no law to take a few and only a few to seed your garden if it is suitable -

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Jon, this isn't strictly true. If someone wanted to collect native slow-worms there may well be local by-laws preventing collection i.e. at local nature reserves. To take any wild animal without land owners permission could be regarded as theft. This would include taking to seed a garden population and also taking a few to keep as captives.

To make it clear Boocat, there is no reason that you could not legally collect slow-worms to keep in captivity (or in your garden) from the wild in the UK without any form of license,

provided that:

1) You don't intend to offer them for sale now or in the future, which would be an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act

2) You seek the land owners permission and ensure there are no local by-laws preventing the collection of fauna and flora

I would go along with Jon that it is great to attract slow-worms to your garden in preference to keeping them as longterm captives, but appreciate this isn't always possible.

boocat.  Thank goodness that it is illegal to simply capture & sell our native herptiles! If kids knew they might be able to make a fair few bob from selling our native herp's then kids -& some adults- would be out plundering wildlife sites for them!

For Slowworms, i'd pretty much go along with what herpetologic2's saying. If there aren't Slowworms in your area which you could do your best to try & tempt into your garden, then maybe go carefully catch one, or two, but to just keep temporarily to study in a tank of mainly compost, leaf litter'n'twigs. Whatever reptile you might keep, short term, or long term, always firstly do some research on the species to be sure you're gonna keep the creature in healthily correct conditions, correctly warm & fed. Personally, if i was to long term keep Slowworms as pets, i'd keep them outdoors in my quarter covered terrarium (presently nowt in it & overgrown!) which i'd firstly adapt to that species requirments. Should you at all consider that option, then keep in mind of course, a terrarium mustn't be built where any water logging is at all possible, otherwise the inhabitants are likely to drown during hibernation. But anyway, outdoors is -i believe- the healthiest, best possible place for Slowworms, & not long term in a tank, in a centrally heated, stuffy room in a house.

And by the way, boocat, it's worth taking into consideration that Slowworms have the potential of living to a very ripe old age indeed. I think the captive record still remains 54 years!...Obviously kept by a very responsible carer who probably fully appreciated he, or she, could be in it for the long haul! Trust you'd appreciate the same.   

Mick.  

Hi, im a newbie.

I was just wondering if any of you were going to sell a slow worm, i really like them and think they're cute. if anyone has one for sale, contact me

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You may find this thread of interest:

http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1237 &PN=1

I'm hoping to breed my group of legal imported Slows at some stage in the future, and pending written word back from DEFRA about whether it would be legal for me to offer F1 generation juveniles from imported stock to experienced reptile keepers.... well, the discussion's all there, really.

Well thats is why the law was brought in to stop such actions - though it would be an idea to apply this to the whole of Europe so that people didnt import slowworms from other countries - you know if the trade was threatening the status of reptiles in the UK then the same would apply to Italian slowworms -

Ssthisto good luck in breeding the slowworms - I successfully bred my English slowwies in my garden - they are in their thrid successful year of breeding - the youngsters are doing fine aswell -

Sorry I didnt think about the local bylaws - though there is no law that specifically stops taking the animals - though it is the end reason why they are taken - ie selling that is outlawed

JC