The Zoologist/4th series, vol 5 (1901)/Issue 715/A Plague of Snakes, Leighton

by Gerald Rowley Leighton

 

A PLAGUE OF SNAKES.

By Gerald Leighton, M.B.

 

That a dwelling-house in this country should he visited with a plague of Snakes seems like a wild romance, and no doubt very many readers of the daily papers who perused the following paragraph (or a similar one) gave the reporter credit for a somewhat lively imagination:—

"A Plague of Snakes.—The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near Llanelly, are suffering from a plague of Snakes. The reptiles are of all sizes and colours, and they crawl over the floors, infest the cupboards, curl themselves together on the furniture, and even luxuriate in the bedrooms. No fewer than twenty-two Snakes were slaughtered in one day."

The above is from the 'Morning Leader.' The Cardiff 'Western Mail' went into more detail still, and reported the occurrence thus: —

"A Plague of Snakes at Llanelly: House completely infested.—The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near Llanelly, have undergone a very unpleasant experience of late. It was reported by the sanitary inspector of the borough council on Friday that the place had become the domicile for innumerable Snakes of all sizes and colours. They crawled over the floors, infested the cupboards, curled themselves together on the furniture, while some more aspiring members of the species climbed the stairs and luxuriated in the comforts of the bedrooms. The human occupants of the house had done their best to rid themselves of these unwelcome visitors, and had waged a war of extermination against them. The Snakes continued to come, however, although, as the inspector explained, no fewer than twenty-two were slaughtered in one day. The sanitary committee listened to the recital of these facts with horror written on their faces, but took no action in the matter, being uncertain, probably, whether their jurisdiction extended to Snakes, However, the inspector will probably serve notice to quit upon them, failing compliance with which more summary measures will be taken."

This was about the second week in September, 1900, and most of the daily papers had some reference to the curious phenomenon. It seemed to me that it would be interesting to investigate the matter thoroughly, and accordingly I communicated with the sanitary inspector of Llanelly, to whom I am indebted for the facts here related.

It seems, then, that the house in question is one of a row of eighteen, and faces the north. The gardens are in front of the houses, with a road between. At the back of the row there is a stubble-field, the level of which is a little higher than the floor of the houses. There are no back doors on to this field, each house having a small back window, some of which are made to open, others not. Below these houses the locality is very wet and damp, and there are several small old coal-pits, over a hundred years old. For the last six or seven years there have been scores of Snakes to be seen about these houses, even climbing up the walls, and on to the old-fashioned roofs which they have. For the last two or three years the reptiles seem to have become even more numerous. In the particular house (No. 2) referred to in the above quoted paragraphs, the woman who lived in it one day saw a small Snake on the hearthstones, right before the fire. The next day she saw several dropping down from a hole in the wall about two feet from the floor. They then made a search, and found a dozen more, and again, in another place, several small ones. The tenant then made out that the place was unhealthy, and left, having first of all reported this extraordinary condition of affairs. On Oct. 28th the sanitary inspector was looking over some repairs to this particular house. The back wall was taken down and the oven, but nothing was found there. However, on removing the rubbish, he saw a small Snake, and captured it. Such are authentic facts of the matter given to me by Mr. D.P. Thomas (sanitary inspector).

Of course, the two interesting questions were, first, which of our Snakes was it that was thus obtruding itself in such numbers; and, secondly, where did they come from, and how? There could be little room for doubt as regards the first; the mere fact of the reptiles being in such numbers made it most probable that the Common Ring- Snake (or Grass-Snake) was the intruder. However, to set the matter beyond all doubt, I requested Mr. Thomas to send me the specimen he caught for identification. This he kindly did, and it turned out to be, as I expected, Tropidonotus natrix (the Ring-Snake). It measured 7¼ in. in length, and was a young one, probably hatched out about the middle of August. As there was no suggestion that more than one kind of Snake participated in the visitation, this settled that point. The next question is—where did they come from? If one thinks for a moment of the natural habits of this our Common Snake, it is not difficult to see how it could easily happen that a large number might suddenly make their appearance. The Grass-Snake is oviparous, depositing its eggs, sometimes to the number of three dozen or more, in any convenient rubbish-heap, or manure, there leaving them to the action of the sun and moisture to be hatched out. They are deposited in the spring, and hatch out either in the autumn, or, as not infrequently happens, remaining over the winter unhatched, and developing only the following spring. In this case they evidently hatched in the autumn, early in September.

Probably the haunt of the parents at Llanelly is in the old quarry referred to. A bunch of eggs could very easily be carried into the house in some faggots, and there lie unheeded till hatched out, and then suddenly a "plague of Snakes" appears. From the fact that as many as twenty-two were taken in the one dwelling, this seems to have been the case, as it is unlikely that so many would have made their way into one house, unless born in it. Moreover, I am informed that all were about the same size, which further points to their origin being from one bunch of eggs. It is quite possible that the eggs were deposited by the parent behind the oven, or in a hole in the back wall, and there lay undisturbed during the period of development.

On taking down a further portion of the wall, no fewer than forty bundles of eggs were found, each bundle containing thirty eggs, out of each of which a young Ring-Snake was issuing; so that there were some twelve hundred of the reptiles in an area of a few feet (cf. letter to 'The Outlook,' vol. vi. p. 526).