Adders

Goodness me! MayBee70 which part of the country was this, although I suppose they can be anywhere 😱

Derbyshire. The dog was being walked in nearby woodland. It is a Spaniel so would have been running around sniffing things the way that Spaniels do. I think if I was eg having a holiday in Cornwall or somewhere I would have thought about the danger from adders. But it’s interesting that my vet has just sent out a warning. Our first thought was that it had had an allergic reaction to the bluebells that were in the wood but the vet found a puncture mark in the dog. The email from the vet said that adder bites are not usually fatal but it is important to get to a vets asap. I’d worry about my whippet because they do tend to react badly to things like that because of their lack of body fat.

We live with this here and avoid long grass where you can’t see your feet. It doesn’t happen that often but when it does it is usually fatal for pets and sometimes for humans. Not adders but brown snakes and tiger snakes. They are not normally aggressive but if you accidentally tread on them they go for you.

I can’t imagine what it’s like living in a country that has so many dangerous creatures! Does it just become part of life?

On the plus side they have possums!

A few years ago whilst out walking our dog was sat staring at something in the long grass. We wandered back to have a look and it was two adders entwining and what looked like an adder dance - we subsequently found out it was two males sparring. Our dog made no attempt to investigate further though and we wandered if he new instinctively that they were dangerous.

Lovely to see though.

MayBee70

I can’t imagine what it’s like living in a country that has so many dangerous creatures! Does it just become part of life?

I don't think about it other than just normal precautions. I have seen a lot of snakes over the years but have never been bitten. I swam with them once and thought they were eels. Wondered why people were watching me from the bank! Pretty dumb of me but they didn't harm me, just swam round my legs.

Adders are beautiful but silent and they start to be more active as the sun comes out, they are not aggressive and would only bite in fear your dog probably trod on it accidentally
We certainly have them here and we are not deep countryside or Cornwall 😀
Glad you’re dogs ok

We have them in the sand dunes which I didnt expect. Our vets here also put notices of what to do on their web sites.

We don’t have pets but keep an eye out when walking locally as well as covering up and checking for ticks.

We've seen them in the garden here. They are beautiful when gliding along.
But it makes me wary when sitting outside.

I’m in Surrey and we have them on heathland . I’ve heard of a few dogs who’ve been bitten but have been ok . A dog walker friend carries antihistamines with her during the summer , just in case