Dangerous reptile?

ambro25

Locate: North Nottinghamshire, UK

Walking our dog early Saturday morning, as usual the dog goes and 'does the rounds' of rabbit holes in a local field, having a bit of a dig and a sniff at each...and on a particular one, the dog jerks back and sits rock still, pointing. Then starts barking. Very unusual behaviour.

So I take a look in. And what should slowly lumber out of the hole:



which to me looks like the head of a large exotic snake, perhaps a Boa or juvenile Anaconda? (to my untrained eye)

Head at its widest is as wide as my dog's snout (large patterdale cross, 17kgs, think 'young Lab' in size), so I'm surmising that what I didn't see of that snake, i.e. all of its body, is easily several feet.

Colour is a deep dark red (nearly brown), with some white on top of the head. Deffo not a python, head shape is wrong. And absolutely not a 'local' grass snake or adder, head is far too big for that.

Now, that field has a lot of tall grass and water holes & dykes nearby [wherein the conspicuous absence of local fauna (rabbits, voles, etc.), of late, might have found its explanation here]

If anyone knows of an organisation in the UK that can help, please post or PM me. Already reported on 101 (police, non-emergency) and the RSPCA national control centre called me back within 2 minutes...but that was 48 hours ago and I've not heard anything since.

PraxisPete

https://m.facebook.com/NottinghamIHSReptileGroup/

I'd get on to these guys. I'd imagine they'd only be too happy to investigate.

Looks to me like a Madagascan ground boa or something similar. Either way it's a long way from home.

muddypaws

You may be better posting on UK forums, as this one obviously is based in Ireland.

ambro25

I'm aware muddy, but my thread's not drawing a whole lot of interest over (t)here, and

(i) I don't facebook, when most 'relevant' contacts seem to be on there,
(ii) I don't "do" reptiles at all, never have, so no idea which fora are more (and less) reputable,
(iii) I wouldn't want to publicise too much/too locally anyway, for fear of attracting "wrong'uns" after making a quick buck or other nefarious aims.

I managed to get in touch with the IHS as suggested by Parxispete above, and they've called me back, after I used their contact page and pointed them to this thread. They're aware, and currently canvassing members to try and find one who's ready and willing to do something (the gent who called is unfortunately not mobile).

Regrettably I can't offer anything beyond taking them to 'the hole', because [re. (ii) above] I wouldn't have a clue what to do safely for myself and/or the snake, and even if I did (after watching Steve Irwin -RIP- Youtube vids for 10 mins :pac:) I have nothing/nowhere to house it safely (nor warmly/comfortably for that matter) until a member would show up to collect it. Plus, with the dog's (problematically-) high prey drive, bringing that thing back and having it anywhere near the house is just a plain no, for the sake of either animal's stress levels.

PraxisPete

It's probably just an adder on second thoughts.

ambro25

Well, according to the IHS guy it was a toad.

Colour me dubious, rather than embarassed: I've seen plenty enough of them, including large ones, to believe that they don't move like I saw that thing move (it 'translated' out and then back in, without any perceivable limb movement).

But they're the expert. I'm happy enough that if it's a snake, it'll probably be dead of exposure before long.

mymo

I grew up in the U.K. And that doesn't look like a toad or frog of any sort I've seen, not an Adder either, I've been bitten by one, I won't forget what they look like in a hurry.
I never kept reptiles but looks like a boa, google adder images or look on native wildlife websites, it's also too big (or looks it from pic) to be a slow worm or smooth snake, or small lizard/newt.

seagull

OP - how close did you get to the animal, and could you make out that this was definitely just a head with a body still down the whole?

Think of what you're seeing as the whole animal rather than just a head, and a toad does seem like a reasonable explanation.

Knine

I dunno. I never seen a toads that looked like that. To me it looks like a snakes head

mymo

seagull wrote: »

Think of what you're seeing as the whole animal rather than just a head, and a toad does seem like a reasonable explanation.

It's not a toad, shape is wrong, too smooth, dark lines at side are more indicative of a common frog not a toad, but again, shape is wrong, as is colouring and texture.
As I said I grew up in uk, with toads and frogs around our garden, it's not a toad or frog.

Bunnyslippers

I'd say it's not a toad at all either - wrong everything! I've seen enough toads and pythons too, and to me the markings down the side and what looks like eyes that haven't shed yet I'd be inclined to go with a python species too. They are around in the UK as so easy to get them in pet shops and very hard to re-home or sell on when folk get bored of them so they just ditch them.