European herping

[jossh27]

I'm heading to Europe end of August- Amsterdam, hamburg, Venice, Prague somewhere in Switzerland and ending somewhere in Iceland. What should i look for herp-wise and what can i expect to see?

[Roman]

That’s not easy to answer since it covers quite a bit of ground and different habitats and climates. First of all, don’t expect too much, there are not so many different species of Reptiles and Amphibians in Europe to begin with and the animals we have are often isolated or only small populations.

I will add the German names of the Reptiles you may find in northern Germany so you might ask the locals about them.

Germany / Netherlands / Czech Republic / Switzerland
In the cities itself I would not expect to find much, you might be able to find the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis = “Zauneidechse”) in a park. It is the most common lizard in Germany. The urban hinterland (nice German word btw.) is also more or less cultivated, farms or forests cultivated for wood production. If you go a little south from Hamburg there is the “Lueneburger Heide”, an area cultivated by ranging sheeps. There are meadows and marshes, if you are lucky you may be able to find the sand lizard, the slow worm (Anguis fragilis = “Blindschleiche”), a legless Lizard, the Gras snake (Natrix natrix = “Ringelnatter), a water snake like the north American snakes of the genus Nerodia and the most common snake in Europe, the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca = “Glattnatter” or “Schlingnatter”) and if you are REALY lucky the European viper (Vipera berus = “Kreuzotter”), one of only two venomous snakes in Germany. There might be also the viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara = “Waldeidechse”), but it is much rarer as the sand lizard.

I don’t know any details about Amsterdam and Prague, but I would expect more or less the same Reptiles as I mentioned for Germany. In Switzerland it depends where you are. In the northern part near Germany you will find the same Reptiles as in Germany, in the higher Regions of the Alps there are not many Reptiles at all, in the southern Regions near Italy you might find the asp viper (Vipera aspis = “Aspisviper”), another venomous snake.

There are more Reptiles in Italy, since the climate is warmer and the winter less prone to be too cold. You might be able to find the dice snake (Natrix tessellata), another water snake, the green whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus), a racer and the Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus). I don’t have any actual information about Lizards of Italy, but you might find the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), the ruin lizard (Podarcis sicula), the European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) and the common wall gecko (Tarentola mauritanica).

Here are some pictures

A young Grass snake I kept for a while

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy105/elaphe420/IMG_2854_zps15c0f4c4.jpg

My Aesculapian snake

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy105/elaphe420/IMG_3141_zpshp0o78w1.jpg

A common wall lizard (they have a growing population in central and southern Germany, I took the picture not far from where I live)


http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy105/elaphe420/Podarcis-muralis_2_2015-05-_zpslqdbccuc.jpg
Roman

[jossh27]

Awesome. Thank you very much. I didn't really expect to see much anywhere, but Italy. A friend went last year and said there were little lizards everywhere, all over buildings and stuff