 |
|
|
Slow worm exposed basking: |
| Author | Message |
|
Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448  View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 28 Jul 2003 All the books tell us that slow worms are only rarely seen out in the open... I found a large male at about 6pm on saturday, stretched out and motionless, in the middle of a compressed gravel track on Forestry Commission land. As this track's used quite often by FC vehicles, I encouraged it to move off the track. It took it about 30 seconds at full tilt to get to the edge, as the surface gravel was quite loose. This isn't the first time I've seen one on this track, and I've seen several slow worm roadkills there as well. Has anyone got any ideas why a slow worm would do this? Would it really make the effort to crawl across the gravel to absorb heat from the road, or do they actually come above ground while moving from place to place? |
|
Alan Hyde Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 1416 View other posts by Alan Hyde |
Posted: 28 Jul 2003 Hi Caleb, Over the years I've reguarly seen Slow worms out basking , but always in the heather , or on top of tin. I think it's quite normal for them to do so, Cheers, Alan O-> O+> |
|
Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 28 Jul 2003 Get quite a few roadkill slow worms here in central Swanage, most often down Taunton Road which is virtually town centre. After all that rain on Friday lots of slow worms out on the open sat morning, adult males and females, counted about seven, two in quite open area, sandy patch next to heather. Don't often see them on top of tin though, although sand lizards and common lizards do this all the time. Cheers Tony |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090  View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 28 Jul 2003 Hi Caleb, I have rarely if ever seen males out in the open, but do see heavily gravid females out in full sun. This is at bracken sites on piles used by both adders and grass snakes and I have seen all three species basking together in the open. This year though I've not seen any adult slow worms at all in the open, only a juvenile in the open and rapidly moving for cover. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
|
Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 Thanks for the replies- I guess it's not that uncommon for them to be out in the open, then... But I'm still wondering why one would bask so far from cover- perhaps it was actually on the move, heard me coming, and froze rather than moving off? |
|
-LAF Senior Member Joined: 03 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 317 View other posts by -LAF |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 Hi Guys, Yeah, I've seen quite a few slow worms out basking in the open too. Always on heather though. I've seen quite a few basking on the tops of dry stone walls but always amongst Ivy or grasses, never fully exposed. I'm not sure who first said that slow worms don't bask out in the open but I would have to sumise that they were not overly familiar with them. They certainly seem to spend far more time under cover, which is where I encounter probably 95% or more (I find most of our snakes this way too - outside of breeding season at least), but I don't think that basking out in the open is remotely unusual from what I've seen, not even atypical even, just perhaps infrequent. The term cryptic heliotherm, which is is often aplied to smooth snakes (which I've seen quite a number of basking openly too now), would be how I'd best describe their habits. I'm glad other people see this behaviour too. As for road kills, there are a couple of sites in North Wales where I only know slow worms exist because of road kill specimens. Maybe their ecology is in need of a fresh look! Cheers, Lee. Lee Fairclough |
|
Matt Harris Senior Member Joined: 03 Jun 2003 No. of posts: 196 View other posts by Matt Harris |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 <<All the books tell us that slow worms are only rarely seen out in the open>> Compared to how often the are found under tins/stones etc, I don't think that this is an unreasonable statement, but I suppose it boils down to your definition of "rarely"! Slow-worms are mostly thigmothermic, but from what people say above maybe the females do bask a bit more in order to aid embryonic development? Gwent Amphibian and Reptile Group (GARG) |
|
Matt Harris Senior Member Joined: 03 Jun 2003 No. of posts: 196 View other posts by Matt Harris |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 Looking over my records I've seen one male and three females "basking" this year Gwent Amphibian and Reptile Group (GARG) |
|
Wolfgang Wuster Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 326 View other posts by Wolfgang Wuster |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 I have certainly seen quite a few out in the open. One thing that always struck me is that I would either see several, or none - certain types of weather clearly seem to tempt them out, whereas on others, they keep under cover. Off the top of my head, warm, partly cloudy, humid weather seems to draw them out, but I have also seen them on other days. Cheers, Wolfgang Wolfgang Wüster School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ |
|
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 30 Jul 2003 I have seen mostly mosaic basking with Slow-worms on heathland in amongst the heather but have seen quite a few out in the open in the coastal Balkans where objects such as tins become far too hot for reptiles. I have found a lot more basking in March when I find tins are hardly used, I believe they become too cold at night. Also after hibernation a certain amount of Ultra-violet light, which with a low sun would not be in large amounts, may be important. I often saw many basking on the grassy railway embankment at Taunton, Somerset, but on the level areas mostly found them under old sleepers. Has anyone compared the amount of snakes and slow-worms found under tins in the morning with the temperature of the air and ground at night. I think the thermal qualities of tins is a lot more complex than they just warm up quicker in the sun. I believe they act as radiators and if one has a decent depth of vegetation under the tin the reptile may find its perfect temperature by moving up and down in the vegetation. There was some research being carried out in the U.S. with Dekay's snake under refugia but have not heard what the end results were. In the summer tins often warm up to 40-50?C very quickly and cannot believe that thigmothermic transfer of heat from the tin would be a good idea at these high temperatures, tranfer of heat from the heated up vegetation under the tin would be more sensible & believable. In hot blue sky days the only animals I constantly find on the top of the vegetation layer and possibly touching the tin surface are Grass Snakes which are usually shedding their skins. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
|
Matt Harris Senior Member Joined: 03 Jun 2003 No. of posts: 196 View other posts by Matt Harris |
Posted: 31 Jul 2003 <<Has anyone compared the amount of snakes and slow-worms found under tins in the morning with the temperature of the air and ground at night. >> I know Betty Platenberg recorded cloacal temperature and under-tin temperature with slow-worms and the grass snakes which were on her patch, but I think this was once a day, rather than at regular times throughout the day. Gwent Amphibian and Reptile Group (GARG) |
|
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 31 Jul 2003 I did speak to her after one of her talks where she had measured various parameters to find out what factor was responsible for the most animals to be found under tins but she had not measured night temperatures. When I was carrying out a 2 year rescue I found that days that had a clear night previously which was relatively cool gave very poor results whereas a day after a cloudy relatively warm night gave the most animals. I am certain that slow -worms are very active at night and at dawn. They are very fond of small slugs and these are most active at night. I had a collection of slow-worms in a tank at home waitng to be translocated and in the middle of the night came down for a drink it was very dark in the room where the animals were but there was a lot of noise from there when I went in and turned on the light all the slow worms were on the top of the moss and grass with many mating and males fighting all were very active, this amount of activity was not seen in the day or evening time. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
|
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 31 Jul 2003 Female Slow worm seen basking out in open on a patch of dead dwarf gorse just out from a patch of European gorse. Weather had been overcast and humid then clouds broke giving sunny patches. 5 Sand Lizards and a Grass Snake also seen basking in about 20 minutes of looking. Earlier in the morning when cloudy Grass snakes & Slow worms seen under tins. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
|
Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 01 Aug 2003 I'd agree that slow worms seem more active after wet weather- but I don't think it has to be sunny- I've seen them out on warm overcast days, immediately after rain. One other question- do people find slow worms basking in coiled positions like snakes? The majority of the ones I've seen out in the open have been stretched out in a straight line, or a loose S-shape, but the ones in refuges are almost always coiled. |
|
David Bird Forum Specialist Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 515 View other posts by David Bird |
Posted: 01 Aug 2003 Have just found a paper of interest whilst sorting out piles of papers. Capula,M. & Luiselli,L. 1993. Ecology of an alpine population of the slow worm Herpetozoa 6 (1/2) 57-64. The authors found that gravid females expose themselves to direct sunlight by basking whereas non gravid females stay under refugia. I have also put a few useful titles of books on the lizard page of the British book section. British Herpetological Society Librarian and member of B.H.S Conservation Committee. Self employed Herpetological Consultant and Field Worker. |
|
GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF |
Posted: 01 Aug 2003 Caleb, my gravid females were all coiled when found, the weather was as you describe, warm humid overcast after showers with some breaking sunlight. The sightings certainly came in groups also, i.e. 3-4 recorded only feet from each other. I've known these sites for many years and it has only been rarely that I have seen slow worms out in the open basking, from what has been said so far I guess the behaviour of gravid females coming out in the open has a lot to do with habitat. I will be tinning the hindhead site for next season and fully expect to record a lot of slow worms under the tins, that would otherwise be quite elusive. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant |
- Slow worm exposed basking |