Slow-worm behaviour

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   A lady in Portsmouth tells me she has slow-worms in her compost heap. She saw that a large one was holding a smaller one in its mouth, gripping it just behind the head. This lasted for more than a hour, and both survived.
The incident was repeated, and the smaller one was later found dead.
Any ideas on what was going on?
Thanks

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Alan Thurbon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote Alan Thurbon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Slow-worm behaviour Posted: 09 Jun 2003 at 10:19pm
	A lady in Portsmouth tells me she has slow-worms in her compost heap. She saw that a large one was holding a smaller one in its mouth, gripping it just behind the head. This lasted for more than a hour, and both survived. The incident was repeated, and the smaller one was later found dead. Any ideas on what was going on? Thanks
	Alan

betty Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 28 Aug 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote betty Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2003 at 6:51pm
	I have never experienced caniballism by slow-worms, despite keeping adults and juveniles in captivity for several years. More likey, the behaviour described is that typical of mating and courthship, when males grasp females around the head and throat. Females and occasionally males (mistaken identity?) often show the tell-tale mating "scars" on the throat throughout May and June. Very rarely, the "matee" can be injured or strangled, which is probably what happened to the smaller individual in this case.
	Dr. Renata Platenberg Reptile ecologist

monobrowmark Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Member Joined: 07 Sep 2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote monobrowmark Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2003 at 12:23pm
	I found a slow worm on the Cornish cliffs a few days ago. When I got near to it it froze for a few seconds before slowly curling its tail. Then it did something really cool; it began to crawl backwards (tail first) giving the impression that the tail was the head. I assume that this is a behaviour to distract predators from the animal's actual head. Has anyone seen this behaviour before?