Small black snake? (1 Viewer)

Tim Allwood said:

grass snakes can be very dark but have the collar effect Stuart mentioned (look at the attached pic). Can also be pretty chunky.

I see adders on a good % of my visits to Waxham, mostly typical in colour, haven't seen a really dark/black one yet...and over the weekend I almost trod on two.

Grass snakes I encounter much less frequently but saw a nice one yesterday which gave me a good hiss before rocketing off...

i must stop birding in my converse and get some chunky boots on....

Tim

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Farnboro John said:

A friend of mine had one strike a training shoe and go clean through that, thankfully not reaching the foot within - best not to test it.

John

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noirua said:

I'm wearing steel toe capped boots, gaiters ( not sure these are good enough ) and strong leather gauntlets in the garden now. Every time I go out I'm looking for normal coloured or melanic adders.

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skink1978 said:

Noirua, do you have any areas of heathland or waste land near your house, or even woodland or a railway line?
While adders are found in gardens from time to time, Grass Snakes are much more common in suburbia. I have seen very dark Grass Snakes and not noticed a collar.

I also agree with the above posts that any snake is very easily disturbed by human activity. In addition Adders tend to be reluctant to bite, although there are always exceptions!
If you or your neighbours are worried about the snake biting pets or children, removing all hiding places (log piles, garden refuge etc) and cover would be recommended, although this would probably destroy the homes of other garden wildlife.

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noirua said:

There is a railway line about 100 metres away and there is an area beyond the rear gardens, about 4 metres wide, that has trees and bushes planted. We do have compost heaps and a log pile. No heathland or waste land.

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Vicar said:

Just found this thread, and can't add much which has not already been said.

Possibly a melanistic adder, although unlikely in a garden, unless you back onto woodland or grassland. Most likely a grass snake which can look very dark as they shoot away, and there are rare instances of black grass-snakes (3 found this year), but even these usually have a yellowish collar, although there are exceptions (1 found this year).

Following link has an image of a young dark Grass snake, and a melanistic adder.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/highexplosive/Adder/AdderFrame.html

I'm sure that people on this forum wouldn't think of harming a snake so no need to point out that all native UK snakes are protected by law from harm.

Best ID advice for a fleeting sighting is that grass snakes look slim and are VERY fast, whilst adders have a 'chunky' appearance, and although they can move quickly over short distances, usually have a more sedate pace.

The chances of there being an Adder "nest" (hibernacula) in an urban garden setting are virtually zero. If you have a compost heap, its very likely that the harmless grassie would lay its eggs there to incubate.

Hope this helps some, obviously a picture would clinch the ID.

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Monkhall said:

Noirua / Roger S
Black grass snakes are not unknown in the UK. Only last week I collected one from a garden in Derbyshire ( where the owner was convinced that it was poisonous "because it was black"). It was a juvenile about 12 to 14 inches long and highly active. It is completely black and where the creamy/yellow collar should be behind the head you can just make out a slight pale mark if viewed in the correct light.
A colleague has photographed it for me and the pictures were posted on the RAUK (Reptiles & Amphibians of the UK) website. If you want to look at the pictures the link to the actual page is http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=411&PN=1&TPN=2
If that doesn't work go to the main address http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk
Follow the link to forums and under the heading Herpetofauna Native to the UK go to grass snake as the heading. The topic is under the thread called "unusual markings" and John Newton has posted a series of photos there on the 21st August. The bottom one is the best as it shows the whole snake and may be what you saw (the other photos show the head and scales).

There have been two other sightings of black grass snakes that I know of this year, another juvenile in Epping Forest and a black adult found on a development site only about 1 km from the juvenile I found. Adders are also melanistic, I saw a black one in the Peak District this spring, but the possibility of black grass snakes shouldn’t be discounted especially in areas where adders are unknown.

Chris
Derbyshire Amphibian & Reptile Group

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damz68 said:

It sounds like an adder to me, but we are all just guessing without a photo. If I am not mistaking the grass snake, even the dark phase, will have a ring around the neck. But there may be a melenistic one, solid black. Makes more since that it is the adder. The adder is venomous, but venom output is small and venom is weak.

Sorry if I am repeating anyone, to tired to read all.

It is real funny to read all the problems identifying with only three species of snake found in all of England. In SC we have 38 species and I am always giving the country folk hell for not being able to tell the differance between a cottonmouth and any of the water snakes. I guess I should lighten up a little.

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