Aesculapian snake

Zamenis longissimus Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now raising young 1 day

raising young Reptile here all year

The whole year

9 September – 4 October

the coastal calendar, shifted 10 days later for this region

Sitting the year outGetting readyYoung aboutYoung leaving

Where to look

Woodland edges and old barns; climbs well, and turns up in roof spaces after mice.

Worth knowing

The snake on the medical staff, and a serious rodent predator — a pair in a barn is worth more than a cat. Eggs are laid in manure heaps and rotting sawdust, where the fermentation heat does the incubating.

Look it up

photos, sightings and recordings, off this site

iNaturalist — photos and where people are seeing it Wikipedia — Zamenis longissimus

Regions

where this species is on the list

Dalmatian coastKvarner and IstriaVelebit and the DinaridesSlavonia and the Pannonian plainTukhlia, Ukrainian Carpathians

Phase by phase

dates as they fall in the region chosen above

Phase	When	Length	What it means
wintering in cover	25 October – 10 April	168 days	Reptile dormancy — sluggish rather than truly asleep, and broken by warm spells.
going about the year	11 April – 14 May	34 days	Feeding, holding territory, doing nothing the calendar singles out.
courting	15 May – 29 June	46 days	Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming.
on eggs	30 June – 8 September	71 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	9 September – 4 October	26 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young dispersing	5 October – 24 October	20 days	Young leaving for good, looking for a territory of their own.

Other reptiles in this region

Balkan green lizardCommon wall lizardDalmatian algyroidesEuropean glass lizardEuropean green lizardFour-lined snakeGrass snakeHermann's tortoiseItalian wall lizardMediterranean house geckoMoorish geckoNose-horned viperSlow worm

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