How did an adder get in my bedroom?

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   Yesterday (4 September 2011) I was amazed to see a wriggly object on the spare bedroom carpet. When I looked more closely it slithered under the bed and hid.  After a search, I found it curled up in a corner, clearly frightened.  I then managed to capture it in a plastic ice-cream box, and saw  that it was an adder.   Because of its small size,  it was probably a young snake - it was roughly 15 inches long and weighed about 2 ounces.  It had very clear dark markings.

I am a bit concerned that there may be brother or sister snakes elsewhere in the house, as my three-year-old granddaughter is coming to stay next week.
How can I flush them out, if they are here?  And how did the one I found get in?  Could it have slithered up the toilet waste pipe (which empties into an open drain)?  Do adders nest in gardens?
Will it come back?  (I released it on Leckhampton Hill , about a mile away.)
If anyone can answer any of my questions, I will be very grateful!
Kit B

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KitB Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Location: Leckhampton Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote KitB Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: How did an adder get in my bedroom? Posted: 05 Sep 2011 at 7:09am
	Yesterday (4 September 2011) I was amazed to see a wriggly object on the spare bedroom carpet. When I looked more closely it slithered under the bed and hid. After a search, I found it curled up in a corner, clearly frightened. I then managed to capture it in a plastic ice-cream box, and saw that it was an adder. Because of its small size, it was probably a young snake - it was roughly 15 inches long and weighed about 2 ounces. It had very clear dark markings. I am a bit concerned that there may be brother or sister snakes elsewhere in the house, as my three-year-old granddaughter is coming to stay next week. How can I flush them out, if they are here? And how did the one I found get in? Could it have slithered up the toilet waste pipe (which empties into an open drain)? Do adders nest in gardens? Will it come back? (I released it on Leckhampton Hill , about a mile away.) If anyone can answer any of my questions, I will be very grateful! Kit B
	Kit B

will Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830	Post Options Post Reply Quote will Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2011 at 7:48am
	Hello and welcome Kit a couple of things first: 1 - congratulations on doing exactly the right thing with your adder - I know Lecky Hill and there are adders there, great place to release it. Most people would, I suspect, bash the snake first and ask questions later, even though adders are protected as you know. 2 - I attach photos of adders, slowworm and grass snake just to double check that you have the correct ID, but I'm sure you do! - see photos at end of post 3 - adders are rare visitors to gardens, and it's even rarer to find them inside a house. I don't think they'd crawl up a downpipe, more likely in through an open back door. The length of the snake suggests an adult or subadult rather than a baby, though. It's unlikely that there would be any others, as it sounds like this one was way off track. However you'll want to check the house thoroughly of course - over to you! 4 - you can make your garden less adder-friendly by cutting back scrub, mowing grass regularly and not having piles of logs, rockeries etc (all of which are wildlife-friendly habitats). Normally I'd advise on habitat creation, but in this case, given the possibility of a child (granddaughter) coming into contact with an adder, perhaps it would be better to make the garden snake-unfriendly. Hope that helps Will Slowworms - below: grass snake - below: Adders, below:

KitB Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Location: Leckhampton Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote KitB Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2011 at 2:57pm
	Thanks Will for your quick and helpful reply, and the lovely photos. Yes, my adder was exactly like the photo you sent. Also, it must have been an adder because my thumb swelled up after I carelessly let it bite me through the rubber glove I was wearing, and adders are the only venomous snake in britain! When I released it at the side of the road leading to the top of the Hill, it slithered into the grass and disappeared in about two seconds - even though I knew where it was, I couldn't see it. Shows how effective that diagonal marking is as camouflage! I am glad you think it was nearly grown up -I was worried that if it was young , the rest of the family might still be around! How long do you think it might have been living with us? We leave the garden door open a lot in the summer, so it could have got in any time. and lived under the bed - but I don't know what it would have found to eat - we only have mice in the winter! Kit
	Kit B

will Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1830	Post Options Post Reply Quote will Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2011 at 3:26pm
	Thanks Kit - wow! you neglected to mention that you'd been bitten ... An adder bite can be serious (though unlikely to be fatal), and a precautionary visit to hospital is essential, just in case. But I guess that's shutting the door after the horse has bolted! you are perhaps one of only a hundred people in the UK who are bitten annually by adders. Those who handle adders for a living (yes, there are a few) use gauntlets rather than rubber gloves. I'd strongly recommend that in the unlikely event of another turning up indoors that you use a swingbin tipped on its side and a long stick to coax the adder into the bin, rather than hands (unless you have gauntlets which extend beyond your wrist to hand). I guess it could have been indoors for some time - snakes can go without food for weeks and even months - but perhaps we'd better not think too much about that... Finally if 'your' adder didn't come from Lecky Hill a mile away, it may be that you have inadvertently discovered a nearby and previously unknown population. Since adders are getting rarer, even in former strongholds like the hills around Cheltenham, I would recommend sending the record to the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust so they can try to find out if this individual has come from an unrecorded population of adders. Once again, thanks for treating this fascinating invader with such care best wishes Will

GemmaJF Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 Location: Essex Status: Offline Points: 4359	Post Options Post Reply Quote GemmaJF Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2011 at 8:50pm
	Quite amazing Kit, I recently found a dried up male smooth newt in my bedroom and thought that must be a fairly rare event (we do though have a large population in the garden pond), but an adder in the bedroom must occur incredibly rarely. Thanks for sharing your experiences and I echo Will's comments regarding treating the animal with such care and consideration.

KitB Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Location: Leckhampton Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote KitB Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2011 at 7:47am
	Yes, I thought it must be a pretty rare event, so I got the local paper's photograher to come round and take a picture for the record. (Glos Echo, Tuesday Sepember 6, 2011). Incidentally, Will, if you could email me the magnificent snake pictures you put on the forum I would be grateful - I seem unable to print them off from the forum. My email address is christopherbraunholtz@btinternet.com. I could then send you a picture of "my"snake and you can confirm the identification. Kit
	Kit B

KitB Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 05 Sep 2011 Location: Leckhampton Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote KitB Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2011 at 7:56am
	Yes, Gemma, I thought it must be pretty rare (I had never seen an adder before), so I got a photographer from the local paper to take a picture for the record. (Gloucestershire Echo, 6/9/11, p3) Incidentally, Will, could you email me your splendid snake pictures - I can't print them off the forum - and I could then send you a pic of "my" snake to conform its identification, although I am pretty sure it was an adder. my email address is christopherbraunholtz@btinternet.com.
	Kit B

tim hamlett Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1062	Post Options Post Reply Quote tim hamlett Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2011 at 6:21pm
	great story! err KitB - are you sure you want your email address on a public forum. we're all friendly but you never know who else might see it! tim