Slow-Worm Care Sheet

[Mirf]

She is very perdy.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by daftlassieEmma

image

just a visual reference, male is the lighter animal, the female is easily identified as they retain the dark sides and stripe

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female with young

Emma did you say you knew a CB breeder of slow worms on here? if you do, can you remember his username?

[Silversnake84]

Hi guys, yes slow worms are lovely reptiles and it can be very beneficial to watch them to learn about their biology. But i do have to agree that native reptiles should be left in their natural environment as much as possible; perhaps people wanting to capture them do so for a few months only?

The law states that it is illegal to intentionally kill or harm these reptiles, and it could be argued that by taking them from the wild you are harming them (accidental tail loss, increased stress if handled too much or kept in inappropriate conditions, stress leading to more internal parasites and early death, individuals being prevented from undertaking their natural life cycles - cannot mate with chosen partner, cannot brumate, cannot move to other areas, etc).

Slow worms are thigmothermic - they mainly bask under flat objects that heat up in the sun. They do however bask in the open sometimes, though most people rarely see them do this.

They are not nocturnal.

They are opportunistic hunters. As their preferred prey are slugs (particularly grey field slugs) and earthworms, they are active when their prey are active so more accurately their hunting is generally crepuscular and then become less active during the day and go to bask to digest their meals. They will also become active after rain in the summer for e.g. when again slugs etc are active.

Slow worms can spend up to 2 weeks underground. It is not proven if they need UVB or not, but i assume if they require it the levels needed are quite low. Some sort of photoperiod will be necessary for the slow worms to be able to tell what time of day it is.

Neonate slow worms in particular have low survival rates in captivity. They are often found in ant nests which they use to properly thermoregulate, and they will also eat the ant larvae.

If people really want to take slow worms from the wild to study and do decide to release them, please make sure you release them in the exactly same place you found them. Male slow worms are territorial during breeding season, and will defend 'their' spot so housing a dominant male with younger or smaller males if a female is present is likely to cause conflict. Also please release them in summer or the slow worm may be unable to find enough food and a place to brumate in time for winter.

[Matt Harris]

Originally Posted by Silversnake84

Neonate slow worms in particular have low survival rates in captivity. They are often found in ant nests which they use to properly thermoregulate, and they will also eat the ant larvae.

I've never had much trouble keeping babies alive in captivity, although saying that I've never kept them for more than a year before releasing them. I'm lucky in having a few boards lying around that always seem to attract baby slugs, and the baby slow-worms feed readlily on these. At this age they are so voracious you have to be careful to give them food that they can manage; they will happily try to take a chunk out of an adult slug ten times their own body weight.

[Silversnake84]

True! They will try and tackle prey much bigger than themselves. Apparently neonate survival rate to adulthood is quite low, so I guess it depends on how early on you capture the neonates? Once they have been born a few months perhaps the weakest will have died off already and then leaving others who may be fitter. I have no idea if keeping them in captivity helps or hinders them when they are that young - less predation, maybe they are fed more than they would usually get in the wild, but after a year do they become 'tame' and get lazy to find food for themselves? Do you track them after they are released to see how they're getting on? That would be an awesome project

[lottie7]

i have recently rescued a slow worm and i am feeding her on wax worms, slugs and the occasional earth worm. A few months ago she was eating really well and was getting quite fat (as she was extermely skinny when we found her) but now it is colder she never eats and is getting skinny. she livs in a un heated, un lighted vivarium with a rock, flower pot, water dish, pete/compost and dead leaves from the garden. i haven't seen her eat for some time nnow and she doesn't seem very active anymore. i am getting concerned, does anyone know if this is normal, or what i should do to make her indoor habitat better??

also do you think she would be okay to release in this condition?? pleasee help, im worried!!!!

[lottie7]

i have recently rescued a slow worm and i am feeding her on wax worms, slugs and the occasional earth worm. A few months ago she was eating really well and was getting quite fat (as she was extermely skinny when we found her) but now it is colder she never eats and is getting skinny. she livs in a un heated, un lighted vivarium with a rock, flower pot, water dish, pete/compost and dead leaves from the garden. i haven't seen her eat for some time nnow and she doesn't seem very active anymore. i am getting concerned, does anyone know if this is normal, or what i should do to make her indoor habitat better??

also do you think she would be okay to release in this condition?? pleasee help, im worried!!!!

[Silversnake84]

Hi,
Slow worms normally brumate over winter so will eat a lot less and become less active when it gets colder and when days get shorter. If she was skinny when you rescued her but then got fatter that is a good sign, but not good that she's become skinny again - slow worms start going into brumation around end of Sept-Oct, so they'd need to be fat to survive without eating much through the winter.

It's hard to tell if she's in good condition without knowing how long she measures (snout to vent) and how much she weighs in grams as then you can try and work out if this is 'normal' or not (if you want to let me know these measurements I can try and help see if she might be too skinny to survive brumation - take care when measuring though, a rough length is better than stretching her out and then having her dropping her tail!)

For now, if you just keep offering her food incase she takes some of it, and keep water available as you're doing. (If she is preparing for brumation she won't want to eat as she'll be trying to empty her stomach or else it will rot inside her). Make sure her substrate is quite deep, at least 2 inches, so she can burrow down into it. Also make sure it's dry and not soggy or damp.

It's likely if she was recovering well that she'll survive brumation, but keep water always available. If she does appear to be brumating already (not moving, etc) try not to disturb her i.e. digging her up for taking measurements, etc. as it takes a lot of energy for her to wake up and do it all over again and make her even weaker. Leave her until you see her start to move about again on her own, perhaps around March or April, and start to offer her food again at this time.

On the other hand, if she is again very skinny and weak she may not survive brumation, so you may need to provide a bit of warmth for her over the winter to keep her active and eating. Only put a heat mat under one third of the tank as don't need it too hot, and keep the water over on the cool side.

Either way, it is not a good idea to release her at this time of year or in this condition as she will struggle to find a good brumation site in time and prepare herself, and many other slow worms will already be brumating.

When she comes out of brumation, feed her up well again so she's nice and fat (weighing her is a good idea to see how well she's doing - maybe do it once a week and keep a record) and then release her if you think she is looking fit enough - maybe around May when she's had chance to re-gain her weight.

Anyway, hope this helps. Post again if any probs/questions. Good luck!

[Matt Harris]

If she's indoors, it may be that the ambient temperature is maintaining her metabolic rate higher than if she was in brummation. It stands to reason that if her metabolic rate is high, but she's not taking in food, then she will lose weight.

You have to choose between keeping her warm and feeding, or cold (1 to 5 C) and not feeding.

[spinnin_tom]

Originally Posted by LiamRatSnake

What % of UV is recommended if it's used? I can't imagine they'd need a high one. What about supplementation of food?

sorry for dragging up a very old thread, but it saves a new thread.
i'm really sure that since they are largely fossorial, they would need a minuscule amount of uv.
anybody confirm this?
P.S at the moment, i have one which was in my garden (i assume a bird dropped it :L ) since there are never slow worms in my garden or around.. we live in a very urban area it shed its tail :L