This weekend I went to my hometown Pravetz.Every time I go there I find some reptiles and amphibians. This time was a Grass Snake time! For two days I encountered about 20 of them together with some other species.
Saturday 23/05/2009
My parents told me about a small swamp outside the town,near the highway where they've seen a lot of snakes and pond turtles. I was only too happy to hear that,so me and my father drove to the spot. He started fishing and I started walking around the swamp looking for herps. The weather was really hot with slight wind blowing from time to time. Almost immediately I saw a Dice Snake (Natrix tesselata) and shortly after that a Grass Snake (Natrix natrix). Then I saw a few more until I managed to catch one.
Individual #1 – The biggest I found for the weekend. It had swallowed something not long ago. I've read people say that bigger(older) individuals behave diffrently from young ones when cought and I have to agree with that. This snake big, as it was (abot 1 m or a little more), didn't try to bite,didn't try to escape by throwing itself all over the place,didn't even hissed once. It was just flattening it's head like they always do.
We stayed for an hour or so and that was the only snake I cought at that swamp. After that we returned to Pravetz and I went,this time alone,to the spot I always go – the pond near the woods, which I was talking about in my previous post about Pravetz (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15).
Individual #2 - On my way to it I flipped a stone and found a very tiny grass snake,may be hatched this year.
When I arrived at the pond I went for a pile of cardboard,under which I've been always finding snakes.
Individual #3 - I found one this time,too. Again a Grass Snake (N.natrix)! This individual was bigger than the previous one but still a juvenile.
Individual #4 - After that I went to the other side of the pond and found another baby natrix.
Sunday 24/05/2009
On the other day I was back to the pond again. I saw 4 more Grass Snakes,all of them tiny babies. I wonder where their big mother is!? Adults are so secretive...
Individual #5
Individual #6
Individual #7
Passing through the woods I also encountered an Agile Frog (Rana dalmatina).
Thank you for looking!