The Cold Blooded News The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society Volume 28, Number 2;   February, 2001

Adders And Grass Snakes in and Around Alice Holt Forest, North East Hampshire, U.K.

11/14/2000

I'm afraid an adder is small fry if it's big snakes you're looking for. As the saying goes, "If an adder's more than two feet, it's a grass snake," and, in my experience, a grass snake (being non-poisonous but able to grow up to about 6 feet) is a peaceable sort of chap who prefers to keep to himself. The only really close encounter we ever had with a grass snake was when a baby one was cohabiting through the winter with a pair of toads under an old tile in our drive. One day, I suppose, the two toads reasoned that small snakes grow into big snakes and big snakes have a taste for toads - so they packed their bags and left. Shortly after that, the snake left too.

However, adders are a different matter. All the natural science programmes on t.v. tell you they're shy creatures who will always slip away as soon as they see you, if they can. Well, all I can say is the adders in our little bit of a forest (4 square miles) haven't read the snake manuals. It's very rarely that they'll give up a sunny spot on a footpath or even in the car park, once they've found one, without a fight.

At least they're easy to identify with their distinctive zig-zag pattern, but they do blend in with the undergrowth, coming in a range of colours from green and grey to an orangey brown. Although the venom isn't supposed to be lethal to a healthy adult, an antidote is necessary, and I do know of someone who's lost a dog to an adder bite. But this doesn't impress my elderly scottie dog, who has cheerfully lifted his leg against a sleeping adder more than once and lived to tell the tale, the snake in each case preferring to take evasive action.

On one occasion, when I was cycling in the forest, I saw a bootlace just ahead of me and only at the last minute recognized it as a small adder and swerved to avoid it. But was the little fellow grateful? Was he heck! He raised himself to his full height (about two and a half inches) and swung about, lisping at me. These guys mean business. Eventually we came to an agreement and he let me pass - but he wasn't pleased.

I get the impression that adder numbers are increasing, at least in this area. At one time I hardly ever saw one: now I see at least seven or eight a year within a hundred metres of the car park. Of course, that's not a huge number - but then nor is the number of really sunny days we get here! All things considered, I think I'd emigrate if I were an adder.

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