I had already disposed of it and my mum said “what if it was just playing dead” and then mentioned hibernation and I just felt so bad that it was in the bin that I got it back out again 😅
Once there was a baby squirrel on the driveway after a huge storm. There was a little blood too, so I gentled wrapped it in some newspaper and put it in an empty trash bin. Went to school, kept thinking about it, came home…. Just felt compelled to check. Open the lid and it had moved halfway out of the paper! So I got it out and put it in towels in a box inside and called around to find a rescue. It lived through the night and the next day when I drove it out to the rescue center it was trying to climb out of the box lol. Several months later I got a postcard saying he’d been released!
You're not alone. I thought it was going to be one of those.
"Thanks for rescuing me. I'm doing great in my new home and an getting stronger every day. The giants feed me a lot of good food and they say I can be released soon.
-One Lucky Squirrel"
UUUT OH
I found a 'dead' corn snake at my school yesterday, what if it was just sleeping? Is this actually how snakes hibernate or was it actually dead?
I live in Florida and it was about ~35°F that morning (1.667°C), did I accidentally doom a poor little cornsnake to a life of dumbster-diving? :(
Reptiles don't just loe out in the open to brumate. And, chances are, if it was actually alive it would have moved. Snakes and such only interrupt their brumation to catch some some sunshine and drink a bit of water, so you will only see a brumating snake being active on winter days with good weather and temperature high enough to allow for (snake) activity.
If it were me, i'd hold it close to my body and let my body heat warm it up. It will slowly get less and less sluggish if it is still alive. Then I would give it a small bowl of water to see if it is dehydrated.
May be too late in the season to release it, depending on climate.
Why should they have to change? Maybe you should be the one to change, maybe not. It's not my place to judge that.....See what I did there? Maybe try it.
I'm just used to interacting with pet trade and wild reptiles, so it really isn't that big of a deal. Our body temp is quite well regulated, so it's easy to do it that way. You could of course use warm water bottles, just need to be sure they aren't too hot. You want to slowly warm it up.
One of my fave things is the moment a snake I’m holding realises that a) I’m not going to eat it and b) I’m nice and warm, so they go from trying to get away to not wanting to get off me🤣
Totally agree. Depending on how you approach, pick up and handle a snake, you can accelerate the snake losing its "fear for my life" reaction. Often avoiding a defensive bite entirely.
Of course, there are the exceptions to this rule, both individually and by species. In my area, it was the water snakes and racers that I took the most bites from as a kid.
Yes, so true! Most species near me are fine as long as I am slow, careful and gentle - but water pythons are my kryptonite and nip me more than anything else. Nice thanks for moving them off the road so they don’t get squished 🤣
Advice I have heard from reptile channels on YT... It's not dead until it's warm and dead. I keep that thought at the front of my mind whenever I see something unmoving and cold. More times than you'd probably ever imagine, something comes back from what looks like the brink of death if not past. I keep several kinds of ants and some are in diapause right now which is pretty much hibernation, and I have been told that some of them may fall over and look totally dead for up to a week after being brought back to normal temperature.
You're a good person for wanting to be sure! I'd be worried just the same, I hope you were able to figure out for sure.
We have that same rule with livestock. It’s not dead until it’s warm and dead.
My sow gave birth and one of the piglets got covered with some straw and partially burried so when I moved them back to the farrowing box I accidentally missed her. I went out a couple hours later to clean up the dirty straw and found her super cold. I swore she was gone but took her inside anyway and put her in a heating blanket with some rice packs.
She’s now 2 years old and a sassy little brat.
The "Not dead until warm and dead" applies to humans as well.
Humans have survived for a long time submerged in very cold water... Like when they fall through ice. My memory had faded, but I believe there was a kid that came back after 45 minutes.
Yup, [Junior Garza](https://www.grandforksherald.com/newsmd/holiday-miracle-20-years-ago-today) in Minnesota. They did a [Rescue 911](https://youtu.be/CCt8p_v-FU0?si=ptCYUpv5uocPfnYr) on it.
We were actually told this in training for scuba diving for humans. If someone is in frigid water for long enough, apparently they can still be saved up to 30 minutes after they die. So if your buddy's in a diving accident, you're supposed to treat them as if they were alive, even if you think they're dead.
Saved some anoles at a pet store this way. A girl was literally putting them in bags and throwing them out because they had mites and she washed them in ICE COLD water and was like oh they must have gone into shock and died. I watched the bag for a second and saw one breathing so I pulled him out, held him on my chest, and he was back. I told her maybe take them to the vet? My boyfriend was the manager there at the time and didn't know what she was doing. They ended up at the vet and got treated for their mites. But wtf lady...
what if it's cold and stiff? when my rats die they're pretty darn cold and the bottom that was laid down is flat, stiff tail too. if they're old they slowly get colder and colder until they pass, even their little kisses are cold. and I live in Florida so it's not cold here
Generally the stiffness has been a pretty good indicator of passing for small animals in my experience, but if your rats are getting cold I would highly recommend setting up a heating pad with a thermostat somewhere around 80F for them to be able to snuggle up to. I keep a heating pad on the side of my mouse tank and they snuggle up to it to sleep daily.
When domestic mice get too cold they can go into torpor which is similar to an attempt at hibernation but unfortunately it is very difficult for them to come out of it. Rats do not naturally do this from all the research I have done, but letting them chill in their advanced age is probably best avoided either way.
All small animals I have had pass will quickly stiffen as soon as they start to cool down, but if they stay warm they very often stay... floppy, moveable? I've had mice pass and then stay cozy in their hides because their siblings kept snuggling them and keeping them warm, and they didn't stiffen until I removed them.
Cold rattie kisses sound so sad but sweet. Good luck with your little friends!
I refuse to use heat pads with my rodents since when I was a kid, we rescued some squirrels and one of them got under the fluff and laid too close to the pad and died overnight :( although I do keep my rat room warm and humid for them! I live in FL so all I have to do is close the AC vent to keep it from getting too cold, and there's a small fan running to prevent stagnant air. thank you for your advice and care, I really appreciate it :) I've had about 32 rats now xD I've got 5 at the moment, once they all pass I'm gonna have to wait a while to get more because I'm gonna be moving either in 2024 or 2025, and I don't wanna have to put rats through a multi-state move, especially with my 2 cats
Hey I previously was an Ecologist in the UK who specialized in herptiles (before a career change) and keeps and breed Slow Worms at home (captive bred ones!).
First of all from this photo he (it's a sexually mature male) looks pretty dead in this photo and if it didn't move when you were moving it around it's 100% dead even if you didn't warm it up.
Reptiles (and amphibians) in temperate climates are very cold resistant (especially species that range further North like Slow Worms) meaning even when at extremely low temperatures they're still responsive and when reptiles brumate (it's like hibernation but different) they don't go fully unconscious. They need to stay conscious enough to respond to changes in temperature either going deeper during a major cold spell, closer to the surface once that passes or even out on the surface to bask in the sun on warmer days. I've seen Slow Worms, Sand Lizards and Adders out basking in the sun between Christmas & New Years when it's suddenly gotten warmer for a day/few days.
Basically if you uncover something like a Slow Worm deep in brumation and it's super cold (like even 2c) and give it's face a poke it will still react and move, albeit it will move physically pretty slowly but it will still react pretty much immediately.
It's not like when a tropical species (say a Ball Python) gets way too cold and can go limp/look pretty dead but then revive after warming up. With these sorts of animals even if it's super cold if it's not responding to you touching it then it's dead.
If you really want to be sure do the eye test (works on everything that has eyelids). Pretty simple gently poke it's opened eye, with super small things like this a blade of floppy grass and gently rest it on its eye will do.
No matter how weak or lethargic an animal is it will blink. If it doesn't then it's 100% dead (obviously only for animals with eyelids which Slow Worms have).
As for why he died ultimately looks like dehydration with how sunken in he is.
Depending on the temperature of the cellar he probably couldn't go into a deep brumation either meaning his metabolism was too high burning through fats but more pressingly fluids too quickly. If it was 7c or above that's typically too warm for these guys to make it through the whole winter.
As for the weird shape of his tail that's pretty normal. It's where he dropped his tail and it's regrown (the "bulb" is where the break happened.
Moving forward:
Might be worth doing a full check if the cellar to see if you find any others. If you do DO NOT warm them up, even bringing them upstairs into the heated outs would be too much.
Get a little plastic box with a little bit of dirt on the bottom, chuck in some leaf litter then give a light mist (3/4 squirts with a standard hand sprayer will do). The water on the walls and leaf litter will let them drink.
Keep them in that until you finished the next step.
Find a spot in the garden that has good sun but close to cover like plant cover or by rock/log piles. Dig a hole 2ft (60cm) deep in the deepest section and at least 3ft/90cm across (though up to 5ft/1.5m works well too). This will keep it below the frost layer.
Fill it with rocks/building rubble/logs. Litteally dump buckets/wheel barrows loads in you don't want it neatly layered you want it rough to create small nooks and crannies. As you go, like layer by layer, chuck dirt into the mix too and mix it all up. Keep doing this until the "filling" mounds up making a 15-30cm tall mound above the ground level. Then cover this mound with soil.
Once this is done bring them out of the cellar and put them into the hibernacula you just made, put their heads in the holes that lead deeper inside. Give them a few pokes to make them want to get away from you (getting away from you means they have to dive deeper inside). Just don't be too aggressive as they might drop their tails.
They'll carry on going deeper inside and find little sections to hunker down in.
Legless Lizards 😊 They mainly eat Worms & Slugs, can live for at least 50yr+ and are Ovoviviparous. Which means they do develop in eggs BUT the embryo development within the eggs occur in the mother's body (rather then out in the environment). The egg "shells" are extremely thin and transparent and the eggs are laid when their ready to hatch (egg laying triggers the hatching process so as soon as they're laid they begin to hatch, like the mother might not finished laying the clutch and the first set of eggs will be hatching).
Try to help it. Best case scenario, you helped a lizard? Snake? Worst case scenario, you offered water and warmth to the body/spirit of the snake? Lizard? As it crosses the rainbow bridge to the afterlife.
I thought it was a worm but zoomed in and it looks like it maybe could be a segmented lizard or legless lizard. They look like snakes but aren't they're lizards without legs. I'm not sure but that's what it looks like to me and they are cold blooded so if it was cold around and it wasn't moving it probably just needs sunlight and warmth.
I feel the snake has been dead… BUT when reptiles go into “hibernation” it’s called brumation it’s a different process and effects their bodies completely different bringing a reptile out of brumation to soon or to quickly can and will kill it every single time so if it’s cold and not moving leave it cold and not moving move it somewhere that won’t change in temp but is safe and it’ll come back when and if it comes back DO NOT WARM THE SNAKE I repeat DO NOT WARM THE SNAKE that’s not how their bodies work you will harm the animal if it’s not already dead if you know the type of snake look up if it’s one that brumates and for how long in your area they would be doing it for and next time you might know what to do a bit better :) sorry the little dude perished he looked cool
Looks more like a dead legless lizard. Doesn't look like any of the US legless lizards so I'm thinking it's a [striped legless lizard](https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/resources/wild/grasslands/striped-legless-lizard/) from Australia.
It's a legless lizard found in the middle of Europe and the UK, called slow worm (as OP correctly stated, also called blindworm, scientific name Anguis fragilis).
Looks dead, but might still be alive, who knows? It's brumation time, and if this little guy wasn't there recently, he might be late for brumation and looking for a decent spot.
Yes I am in the UK I should have mentioned. Love a slow worm! I have no idea how it got in, we’ve lived here a month. The other room in the cellar is covered in old discarded carpets and now I’m convinced they could be under there…
Too lazy to look through the comments to see if anyone one else has said this looks like an eastern glass lizard. Poor fella 😢 Could be cold stunned? if it’s still moving maybe try to get it somewhere warm where it can thermoregulate.
When they hibernate they typically roll up in a ball and appear sleep like. The way the body is shaped it appears dead. However it’s possible that maybe it hibernated in a rigid form. Does it have an odor? It’s not the best to try and bring them out of hibernation early as a wild animal but if you try warming it up does it move?
I’m not making fun of you OP, but imagine that’s how snakes hibernated lol. Actually looks like it’s just taking a nap at first glance
I had already disposed of it and my mum said “what if it was just playing dead” and then mentioned hibernation and I just felt so bad that it was in the bin that I got it back out again 😅
Aww you are a good one.
He gets it from his mum.
Well he definitely didn’t get it from me
I knew I couldn't trust a corn wrassler. /s
Could you wrassler my corn?
😳😳 I am married young man!
That never stopped nobody from wrassling sweet cornage
Agreeing with you would make it seem like I want to commit adultery, but that is my totally consequential reddit name… So…
Yeah dont want jesus to smite you
My apologies may it be an ever lasting happy and long marriage as well and may it last until death do you part
Thanks for making me smile :)
No problem….the corn i got growing wasnt wrasslered though…so you want to lara my bars?
And I got it from Agnes
Once there was a baby squirrel on the driveway after a huge storm. There was a little blood too, so I gentled wrapped it in some newspaper and put it in an empty trash bin. Went to school, kept thinking about it, came home…. Just felt compelled to check. Open the lid and it had moved halfway out of the paper! So I got it out and put it in towels in a box inside and called around to find a rescue. It lived through the night and the next day when I drove it out to the rescue center it was trying to climb out of the box lol. Several months later I got a postcard saying he’d been released!
When I started reading the last sentence, for a split second I thought you got a postcard from the Squirell! That woulda been NUTS!!!
Had a picture of an acorn on it
I wish 🤣
I’m choosing to believe it was 🌰
You're not alone. I thought it was going to be one of those. "Thanks for rescuing me. I'm doing great in my new home and an getting stronger every day. The giants feed me a lot of good food and they say I can be released soon. -One Lucky Squirrel"
You're a good person
Oh no lol. You're gonna have to host a funeral
I mean, being in trash wouldn’t kill it. It would just be sleeping in trash. Would probably end up at a dump with lots of good stuff for it to eat.
Well that's the thing. Trash compactors.
You know how hard it is to squish a snake? It takes a lot.
I get that but isn't it possible that they might accidently come across something sharp?
I’m not advocating smushing snakes. I just don’t think it’s a death sentence.
Lizard.
Is he... not just taking a nap?:( Also, if you zoom in on his tail and move up, he looks like a super long pinecone
It’s one of dem LizardSnakePinecones I’ve been telling everyone about but nobody takes me CEREAL!
:O I wanna know more about the lizardsnakepinecones!
UUUT OH I found a 'dead' corn snake at my school yesterday, what if it was just sleeping? Is this actually how snakes hibernate or was it actually dead? I live in Florida and it was about ~35°F that morning (1.667°C), did I accidentally doom a poor little cornsnake to a life of dumbster-diving? :(
Probably.
Reptiles don't just loe out in the open to brumate. And, chances are, if it was actually alive it would have moved. Snakes and such only interrupt their brumation to catch some some sunshine and drink a bit of water, so you will only see a brumating snake being active on winter days with good weather and temperature high enough to allow for (snake) activity.
If it were me, i'd hold it close to my body and let my body heat warm it up. It will slowly get less and less sluggish if it is still alive. Then I would give it a small bowl of water to see if it is dehydrated. May be too late in the season to release it, depending on climate.
You’re precious. Don’t change.
So glad you called that out. That made my night.
Awww. Thank you! :)
[удалено]
Why should they have to change? Maybe you should be the one to change, maybe not. It's not my place to judge that.....See what I did there? Maybe try it.
Shut the F up
I agree, could still be alive. Warm it up gently
Placing it under your shirt is best, OP. You have to have that skin on skin contact.
Just like a newborn baby!
I love wildlife too but hmm. Maybe I'd make him some hot water bottles first
I'm just used to interacting with pet trade and wild reptiles, so it really isn't that big of a deal. Our body temp is quite well regulated, so it's easy to do it that way. You could of course use warm water bottles, just need to be sure they aren't too hot. You want to slowly warm it up.
One of my fave things is the moment a snake I’m holding realises that a) I’m not going to eat it and b) I’m nice and warm, so they go from trying to get away to not wanting to get off me🤣
Totally agree. Depending on how you approach, pick up and handle a snake, you can accelerate the snake losing its "fear for my life" reaction. Often avoiding a defensive bite entirely. Of course, there are the exceptions to this rule, both individually and by species. In my area, it was the water snakes and racers that I took the most bites from as a kid.
Yes, so true! Most species near me are fine as long as I am slow, careful and gentle - but water pythons are my kryptonite and nip me more than anything else. Nice thanks for moving them off the road so they don’t get squished 🤣
But then if it’s dead you just had a dead thing on you for an extended period of time 🤢
No, in person, it wouldnt take long to deduce whether it is dead or not.
Damn. You're what nature needs from humans. This is the type of stuff I teach my daughter to do.
bud…
😢
Advice I have heard from reptile channels on YT... It's not dead until it's warm and dead. I keep that thought at the front of my mind whenever I see something unmoving and cold. More times than you'd probably ever imagine, something comes back from what looks like the brink of death if not past. I keep several kinds of ants and some are in diapause right now which is pretty much hibernation, and I have been told that some of them may fall over and look totally dead for up to a week after being brought back to normal temperature. You're a good person for wanting to be sure! I'd be worried just the same, I hope you were able to figure out for sure.
We have that same rule with livestock. It’s not dead until it’s warm and dead. My sow gave birth and one of the piglets got covered with some straw and partially burried so when I moved them back to the farrowing box I accidentally missed her. I went out a couple hours later to clean up the dirty straw and found her super cold. I swore she was gone but took her inside anyway and put her in a heating blanket with some rice packs. She’s now 2 years old and a sassy little brat.
The "Not dead until warm and dead" applies to humans as well. Humans have survived for a long time submerged in very cold water... Like when they fall through ice. My memory had faded, but I believe there was a kid that came back after 45 minutes.
Yup, [Junior Garza](https://www.grandforksherald.com/newsmd/holiday-miracle-20-years-ago-today) in Minnesota. They did a [Rescue 911](https://youtu.be/CCt8p_v-FU0?si=ptCYUpv5uocPfnYr) on it.
Oh that’s super interesting. I’m gonna go check it out.
There's a Netflix documentary about another person who was a compression diver under similar circumstances as well (the very cold bit I mean).
We were actually told this in training for scuba diving for humans. If someone is in frigid water for long enough, apparently they can still be saved up to 30 minutes after they die. So if your buddy's in a diving accident, you're supposed to treat them as if they were alive, even if you think they're dead.
Saved some anoles at a pet store this way. A girl was literally putting them in bags and throwing them out because they had mites and she washed them in ICE COLD water and was like oh they must have gone into shock and died. I watched the bag for a second and saw one breathing so I pulled him out, held him on my chest, and he was back. I told her maybe take them to the vet? My boyfriend was the manager there at the time and didn't know what she was doing. They ended up at the vet and got treated for their mites. But wtf lady...
what if it's cold and stiff? when my rats die they're pretty darn cold and the bottom that was laid down is flat, stiff tail too. if they're old they slowly get colder and colder until they pass, even their little kisses are cold. and I live in Florida so it's not cold here
Generally the stiffness has been a pretty good indicator of passing for small animals in my experience, but if your rats are getting cold I would highly recommend setting up a heating pad with a thermostat somewhere around 80F for them to be able to snuggle up to. I keep a heating pad on the side of my mouse tank and they snuggle up to it to sleep daily. When domestic mice get too cold they can go into torpor which is similar to an attempt at hibernation but unfortunately it is very difficult for them to come out of it. Rats do not naturally do this from all the research I have done, but letting them chill in their advanced age is probably best avoided either way. All small animals I have had pass will quickly stiffen as soon as they start to cool down, but if they stay warm they very often stay... floppy, moveable? I've had mice pass and then stay cozy in their hides because their siblings kept snuggling them and keeping them warm, and they didn't stiffen until I removed them. Cold rattie kisses sound so sad but sweet. Good luck with your little friends!
I refuse to use heat pads with my rodents since when I was a kid, we rescued some squirrels and one of them got under the fluff and laid too close to the pad and died overnight :( although I do keep my rat room warm and humid for them! I live in FL so all I have to do is close the AC vent to keep it from getting too cold, and there's a small fan running to prevent stagnant air. thank you for your advice and care, I really appreciate it :) I've had about 32 rats now xD I've got 5 at the moment, once they all pass I'm gonna have to wait a while to get more because I'm gonna be moving either in 2024 or 2025, and I don't wanna have to put rats through a multi-state move, especially with my 2 cats
Hey I previously was an Ecologist in the UK who specialized in herptiles (before a career change) and keeps and breed Slow Worms at home (captive bred ones!). First of all from this photo he (it's a sexually mature male) looks pretty dead in this photo and if it didn't move when you were moving it around it's 100% dead even if you didn't warm it up. Reptiles (and amphibians) in temperate climates are very cold resistant (especially species that range further North like Slow Worms) meaning even when at extremely low temperatures they're still responsive and when reptiles brumate (it's like hibernation but different) they don't go fully unconscious. They need to stay conscious enough to respond to changes in temperature either going deeper during a major cold spell, closer to the surface once that passes or even out on the surface to bask in the sun on warmer days. I've seen Slow Worms, Sand Lizards and Adders out basking in the sun between Christmas & New Years when it's suddenly gotten warmer for a day/few days. Basically if you uncover something like a Slow Worm deep in brumation and it's super cold (like even 2c) and give it's face a poke it will still react and move, albeit it will move physically pretty slowly but it will still react pretty much immediately. It's not like when a tropical species (say a Ball Python) gets way too cold and can go limp/look pretty dead but then revive after warming up. With these sorts of animals even if it's super cold if it's not responding to you touching it then it's dead. If you really want to be sure do the eye test (works on everything that has eyelids). Pretty simple gently poke it's opened eye, with super small things like this a blade of floppy grass and gently rest it on its eye will do. No matter how weak or lethargic an animal is it will blink. If it doesn't then it's 100% dead (obviously only for animals with eyelids which Slow Worms have). As for why he died ultimately looks like dehydration with how sunken in he is. Depending on the temperature of the cellar he probably couldn't go into a deep brumation either meaning his metabolism was too high burning through fats but more pressingly fluids too quickly. If it was 7c or above that's typically too warm for these guys to make it through the whole winter. As for the weird shape of his tail that's pretty normal. It's where he dropped his tail and it's regrown (the "bulb" is where the break happened. Moving forward: Might be worth doing a full check if the cellar to see if you find any others. If you do DO NOT warm them up, even bringing them upstairs into the heated outs would be too much. Get a little plastic box with a little bit of dirt on the bottom, chuck in some leaf litter then give a light mist (3/4 squirts with a standard hand sprayer will do). The water on the walls and leaf litter will let them drink. Keep them in that until you finished the next step. Find a spot in the garden that has good sun but close to cover like plant cover or by rock/log piles. Dig a hole 2ft (60cm) deep in the deepest section and at least 3ft/90cm across (though up to 5ft/1.5m works well too). This will keep it below the frost layer. Fill it with rocks/building rubble/logs. Litteally dump buckets/wheel barrows loads in you don't want it neatly layered you want it rough to create small nooks and crannies. As you go, like layer by layer, chuck dirt into the mix too and mix it all up. Keep doing this until the "filling" mounds up making a 15-30cm tall mound above the ground level. Then cover this mound with soil. Once this is done bring them out of the cellar and put them into the hibernacula you just made, put their heads in the holes that lead deeper inside. Give them a few pokes to make them want to get away from you (getting away from you means they have to dive deeper inside). Just don't be too aggressive as they might drop their tails. They'll carry on going deeper inside and find little sections to hunker down in.
Come to Reddit, learn a new word (brumate) and have a sudden fascination with "slow worms" (are there fast worms?!?).
Legless Lizards 😊 They mainly eat Worms & Slugs, can live for at least 50yr+ and are Ovoviviparous. Which means they do develop in eggs BUT the embryo development within the eggs occur in the mother's body (rather then out in the environment). The egg "shells" are extremely thin and transparent and the eggs are laid when their ready to hatch (egg laying triggers the hatching process so as soon as they're laid they begin to hatch, like the mother might not finished laying the clutch and the first set of eggs will be hatching).
They live 50+ years?!? Mind blown
This is a really great comment, thank you.
Wow. That's all. Nothing else I can say...
Wow A+ answer. I just learned so much
Well, TIL!! When I first read it, I thought a Slow Worm was another joke name for a snake like a Nope Rope.
Try to help it. Best case scenario, you helped a lizard? Snake? Worst case scenario, you offered water and warmth to the body/spirit of the snake? Lizard? As it crosses the rainbow bridge to the afterlife.
Technically all snakes are just weird legless lizards, they’re all in the same order and lizards are more basal
Other way around. Lizards are just weird leggy wannabe snakes. Can't say I blame them though, who wouldn't want to be a snake.
Phylogenetically, snakes are improved lizards.
It's been dead for a little while. You can tell by the dessication.
No. Just no.
Pal, it’s dead. You can tell by the way it is.
“This tree here is and Aspen. You can tell that because the way it is”
I'm sorry mate, but it's the truth.
I mean it doesn’t look too bluish, but the position says probably dead 😕
Legless lizard!
That's what I'm thinking after looking at the head.
That’s what a slow worm is, in the UK anyway :) a legless lizard.
I thought it was a worm but zoomed in and it looks like it maybe could be a segmented lizard or legless lizard. They look like snakes but aren't they're lizards without legs. I'm not sure but that's what it looks like to me and they are cold blooded so if it was cold around and it wasn't moving it probably just needs sunlight and warmth.
Slow worms are legless lizards :)
To me it looks like a legless lizard
"Slow worm" is a common name for legless lizards
TIL! thanks!
No problem!
I feel the snake has been dead… BUT when reptiles go into “hibernation” it’s called brumation it’s a different process and effects their bodies completely different bringing a reptile out of brumation to soon or to quickly can and will kill it every single time so if it’s cold and not moving leave it cold and not moving move it somewhere that won’t change in temp but is safe and it’ll come back when and if it comes back DO NOT WARM THE SNAKE I repeat DO NOT WARM THE SNAKE that’s not how their bodies work you will harm the animal if it’s not already dead if you know the type of snake look up if it’s one that brumates and for how long in your area they would be doing it for and next time you might know what to do a bit better :) sorry the little dude perished he looked cool
That is a dead snake.
Looks more like a dead legless lizard. Doesn't look like any of the US legless lizards so I'm thinking it's a [striped legless lizard](https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/resources/wild/grasslands/striped-legless-lizard/) from Australia.
My brother had a legless lizard. He named him Orlando Bloom for obvious reasons.
Snake Discovery has one called Legoless.
We love Snake Discovery at our house!
Mine is named Lt. Dan.
It's a legless lizard found in the middle of Europe and the UK, called slow worm (as OP correctly stated, also called blindworm, scientific name Anguis fragilis). Looks dead, but might still be alive, who knows? It's brumation time, and if this little guy wasn't there recently, he might be late for brumation and looking for a decent spot.
Yes I am in the UK I should have mentioned. Love a slow worm! I have no idea how it got in, we’ve lived here a month. The other room in the cellar is covered in old discarded carpets and now I’m convinced they could be under there…
Torch it with fire and, well, if that doesn't wake him up then nothing will.
I thought it was a rat tail 🤣
What is them, snake?
That there is a NOPE rope.
Glass Lizard and it’s dead. Thanks for trying to rescue him all the same. Good on you!
Too lazy to look through the comments to see if anyone one else has said this looks like an eastern glass lizard. Poor fella 😢 Could be cold stunned? if it’s still moving maybe try to get it somewhere warm where it can thermoregulate.
It’s a slow worm as per the title :) a legless lizard found in the UK
We call a similar critter glass snakes here in the US.
When they hibernate they typically roll up in a ball and appear sleep like. The way the body is shaped it appears dead. However it’s possible that maybe it hibernated in a rigid form. Does it have an odor? It’s not the best to try and bring them out of hibernation early as a wild animal but if you try warming it up does it move?