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My father-in-law saw a snake coiled up in our garden this morning. About 2' long and a beige/brown colour. I've been visiting the PO for the last 4 years and have never seen a snake. I wonder are they very common? Is this snake poisonous??? My poor Mother in Law is freaking out and has the house in lock down!

Yes, they are quite common, but most of them are harmless.

http://www.practicalspain.com/spanish-reptiles.htm

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/snakes-6.php

As well as those links, our Roger is an absolute expert on all things slimy and yeuchy. If you see it again, take a photo. I'm sure he'll be able to give you all the details about it - species, name, address, mother's maiden name, eye colour....... (no seriously, he is genuinely very knowlegeable)

Hi Kate, some time ago in answer to a similar question I put a super link in the forum - but I can't find it any more. It gives a list of all snakes which can be found in France - of which only two are poisonous and they are vipers with the typical zig zag markings. In fact, arounf here the only poisonous snake worth the name is the Aspis Viper
The typical appearance is this: http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/ ... i_male.jpg
Note the head is unique with a kind of "nose"
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2112 ... 804pk6.jpg

This viper is very shy and unlikely to be found in gardens unless really our in the wilds!

I'll try to find the other link - but not now as I'm invited to a neighbour's birthday party at 1830!!

The most common snakes in our area are Coulouvres (sp?). They grow up to more than 2 meters (one lives in our garden) and they're very friendly. They're not dangerous.

Here are some pictures.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en ... a=N&tab=wi

Don't bother these snakes, since they eat a lot of moles. I run into them while I walk the dogs in the vineyards. They often live in the stone walls between the fields.

There is a real viper in our area but they can be different with the shape of the head. The viper has the typical spade shaped head. The normal garden serpent is a long head.

Of course you don't get much view if you're running away fast.

Blackduff

Really interesting replies, thank you. I think Blackduff has the right one there.
Can I take it a snake is harmless unless it has the zig-zag pattern along it's back?

molliesassy wrote:Can I take it a snake is harmless unless it has the zig-zag pattern along it's back?

Snakes with zig-zag patterns on their back are usually harmless.............

.................because they have been run over.

Our first summer here, I kept running over salamanders!!

Our drive is long and quite difficult and I had to reverse up a hill. I was always so busy concentrating on what I was doing, I never spotted a salamander on the drive.

I killed four that first summer here

The most common salamander in the region would be this one
the "Fire Salamander"
http://image-photos.linternaute.com/ima ... 119660.jpg
which is normally found in cooler regions at a certain height (mountain slopes in /near forests with running water. I never saw any on the plain of Roussillon which would be too hot and dry.. perhaps in the upper reaches of the Tech/Tet in the hills above 5-600 meters. The colours are a warning that this animal exudes a mildly poisonous substance like toads.

On the other hand the common newt
http://i1.treknature.com/photos/239/dsc00991tnf.jpg
can be found all over the PO in any dampish place where there is still water nearby to allow breeding.

I.e. are you sure it was salamanders you ran over and not newts - which would be expected around Corneilla-del-Vercol?

Certain. It was so sad!

They were yellow and black. We live in the Haut Vallespir at an altitude of around 700 m. Here's a photo of one in our garden.



I remember on the way up to Los Masos, there are even signs saying be careful of salamanders, too.

In E Anglia ,apart from the odd adder,the snakes we used to see a LOT of in the summer were grass snakes.

But I don't think I've ever seen one here. Is that because they don't exist,or are they more timid than their Norfolk cousins?

Our house is in the centre of St Laurent de Cerdans. Last summer we were walking home from friends at about 11.30, down one of the paved back streets. Just before the old bridge I was aware of a sensation across my left foot (I was wearing sandals) and immediately thought "snake or rat". I looked behind to see a light coloured snake about 400mm long slithering away. I thought snakes were shy of people?

At that point I was almost sick as we had come across the odd adder in the countryside. On reflection, as the encounter was harmless, I think a snake was the most preferable option!

oooh!

Don't know! I'm not a particular fan of either!

Webdoc wrote:

molliesassy wrote:Can I take it a snake is harmless unless it has the zig-zag pattern along it's back?

Snakes with zig-zag patterns on their back are usually harmless.............

.................because they have been run over.