Grow Your Own Magazine

help! in addition to my dalek, I have 3 homemade compost heaps, consisting of old pallets with black plastic stapled round the sides and back, and a flap coming over the top. they are filled with a mix of grass cuttings, chicken waste (sawdust and poo), and more or less anything else found round the garden. not much veg waste tho, I tend to put that in the dalek.

have been quite good about mixing them up, but since adding the plastic and now the chicken waste, I find they are a haven for slow worms - as soon as you take the plastic off, they are all there lying on the top, perfectly happy.

trouble is, I want to give them a bit of a turn quite soon and add some more grass clippings - can I do this at any time, or would the slow worms be nesting or someting? is there a time of year when it would be better to turn them? if so I can just add more stuff to the top of each one, which I assume wouldnt hurt the slow worms?

Isn't a slow worm a type of snake? Shivvvveeerrr!

TERRIER
Its a legless lizard

they make me go legless!! but I dont want to hurt them....

I'd stick on gloves and turn by hand because it will probably do less damage.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! not sure I'm brave enough.

NOTE: It's a criminal offence to kill or injure any of the UK's native reptiles. Slow-worms are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. It is an offence to kill, harm, injure, sell or trade them in any way.

That's what OH calls me when I come back from the pub after (one) too many

oh wow ive never heard of them can you take a picture? are they a good thing to have in your garden?

ooooh you are lucky, wish I had them in my heap!!!

You lucky, lucky thing! I haven't seen a slow worm in years!

As said they are a type of lizard, if you google them I think there is a replile society which would be able to give you advice.

Terry

Look here - http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/animals/slow_worm.htm

Snap!!!!!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I remember when I was a kid showing a slow worm to my cousin. She thought it was a plastic snake until it shot out it's little black forked tongue whereupon she nearly crapped herself!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

We use a good plastic look alike snake on our boat to stop the birds sitting on the top and doing their business. Works a treat and fairly frightens the life out of the pain-in-the-butt inquisitive child.

My brother used to find slowworms in the garden at home when we were kids. As far as I was concerned worm was completely the wrong word, its a SNAKE!

i'd love to find slow worms in my compost heap. Not much chance with a dalek! A friend at the other end of the village has grass snakes in his - lovely!

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Some days you're the statue, some days you're the pigeon!

vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated July 6th 2008

It could be worse Flum, they could be boa constrictors!!!!!!

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated Monday 28th April at 11.50hrs

My SIL has Scorpions, stick insects, praying mantises, lizards & 2" long (bright green) grass hoppers + many other creepy crawlies in her garden.

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Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
Quentin Crisp

Anyone got glow worms!

I didnt think slow worms were good for the compost heap as they eat worms dont they.

I have loads and loads of these in my garden and several in my compost heap.