Grass snake

Natrix natrix Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now raising young 0 days

raising young Reptile here all year

The whole year

29 August – 3 October

the coastal calendar, shifted 14 days later for this region

Sitting the year outGetting readyYoung aboutYoung leaving

Where to look

Any water with frogs — ditches, ponds, the sea itself on the coast; swims with head up.

Worth knowing

Plays dead convincingly, including a foul smell and an open mouth, rather than bite. The yellow collar is the field mark, and its absence in Dalmatian animals is why so many are killed here as vipers.

Look it up

photos, sightings and recordings, off this site

iNaturalist — photos and where people are seeing it Wikipedia — Natrix natrix

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	3 November – 23 March	141 days	Reptile dormancy — sluggish rather than truly asleep, and broken by warm spells.
going about the year	24 March – 28 April	36 days	Feeding, holding territory, doing nothing the calendar singles out.
courting	29 April – 18 June	51 days	Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming.
on eggs	19 June – 28 August	71 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	29 August – 3 October	36 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young dispersing	4 October – 2 November	30 days	Young leaving for good, looking for a territory of their own.

Other reptiles in this region

Aesculapian snakeCommon wall lizardEuropean green lizardEuropean pond terrapinSlow worm

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