a surprise present awaited me when i arrived back home today. at first i feared the adder had gone belly-up in the heat, when i spotted the scales in the grass. but no, it had just shed the old skin. it was almost intact, but i accidentally broke it in two while tearing it off the long, wilting clovers. the skin measures over 70 cm, making my scaly friend officially quite large, and old too, i'm assuming. although here in the north, adders surprisingly grow larger than elsewhere in europe.
looking at the translucent body, it's easy to tell just how short a snake's tail really is. it's only that measly, squiggly bit at the very bottom.
apparently, it pays to be kind to your domestic adder...
