I saw a lizards tail squiggling about under the edge of the Curtain in our living room. I thought it was a bit long and then it emerged - a young couleuvre. My OH has an absolute horror of snakes (for me it’s spiders) so I decided to deal with it.
I got the vacuum cleaner extension pipe and it shot up into the dark tube. Quickly out into the garden with it and I let it slither away.
That’s the first time in 20 years that we’ve had a snake in the house.
At our old house near Saumur, we heard one of our dogs barking in the kitchen one summer evening. All the doors were open and we found her barking at .... an Aspic Viper. Definitely not welcome in the house and fortunately it was easy to get Callie away. OH presented the snake with an empty rubbish bin and the uninvited guest was deposited well away from the house.
A couple of days later, we returned from shopping, and guess who was sunning itself under one of the trees by the house .... our Aspic Viper friend.
This time it was deposited the same way, but much further away.
I find it terribly sad that the French seem to want to kill anything slithery regardless of whether it's harmless or not. Funnily enough there was an article on the news a couple of nights ago about just that subject. A doctor commented that no-one had ever died in France from a snake bite and what a shame that many people's reaction is to kill them, and more often than not, it's a harmless couleuvre.
But pets are at risk when they go footling around in the bushes. It's worth keeping the base of shrubs clear of undergrowth - snakes like shady areas to keep cool, and if you've got some water nearby, they welcome it !
Blaze wrote: ↑Mon Aug 25, 2025 2:44 pm
Well done, Headers !
At our old house near Saumur, we heard one of our dogs barking in the kitchen one summer evening. All the doors were open and we found her barking at .... an Aspic Viper. Definitely not welcome in the house and fortunately it was easy to get Callie away. OH presented the snake with an empty rubbish bin and the uninvited guest was deposited well away from the house.
A couple of days later, we returned from shopping, and guess who was sunning itself under one of the trees by the house .... our Aspic Viper friend.
This time it was deposited the same way, but much further away.
I find it terribly sad that the French seem to want to kill anything slithery regardless of whether it's harmless or not. Funnily enough there was an article on the news a couple of nights ago about just that subject. A doctor commented that no-one had ever died in France from a snake bite and what a shame that many people's reaction is to kill them, and more often than not, it's a harmless couleuvre.
But pets are at risk when they go footling around in the bushes. It's worth keeping the base of shrubs clear of undergrowth - snakes like shady areas to keep cool, and if you've got some water nearby, they welcome it !
But lots of french want to kill anything that moves if they can, not just snakes.
Blaze wrote: ↑Mon Aug 25, 2025 2:44 pm
Well done, Headers !
At our old house near Saumur, we heard one of our dogs barking in the kitchen one summer evening. All the doors were open and we found her barking at .... an Aspic Viper. Definitely not welcome in the house and fortunately it was easy to get Callie away. OH presented the snake with an empty rubbish bin and the uninvited guest was deposited well away from the house.
A couple of days later, we returned from shopping, and guess who was sunning itself under one of the trees by the house .... our Aspic Viper friend.
This time it was deposited the same way, but much further away.
I find it terribly sad that the French seem to want to kill anything slithery regardless of whether it's harmless or not. Funnily enough there was an article on the news a couple of nights ago about just that subject. A doctor commented that no-one had ever died in France from a snake bite and what a shame that many people's reaction is to kill them, and more often than not, it's a harmless couleuvre.
But pets are at risk when they go footling around in the bushes. It's worth keeping the base of shrubs clear of undergrowth - snakes like shady areas to keep cool, and if you've got some water nearby, they welcome it !
Asp viper (Vipera aspis) is a more common name but aspic viper is also widely used. Aspic viper always sounds like a dish of cooked venomous snake in gelatine to me probably served as a starter.
Our daughter kept snakes as a hobby visiting was always an experience. Last year we had a large female grass snake in the garage as we was sat outside the garage door, just got a long handled soft head brush and just shooed her outside, stunning markings, they are more afraid of us than we are of them. I thought a law had been passed that gave them all "Protected species" status?
Brilliant !
Anything to do with Wildlife in France, from insects to birds and moles.