The beginning of the Year of the Snake on January 29, 2025, led me to research snakes in Germany. There are seven species of snakes and one lizard (Echse) that acts like a snake and is often mistaken for a snake, the Blindschleiche (slow worm).
All snakes in Germany are under protection, and only two are venomous, though usually pose no threat to life for healthy people.
Ringelnatter - Grass Snake
Name: Ringelnatter, grass snake, water snake, ring snake, Latin: Natrix natrix
General: most common and most known snake in Germany
Habitat: Middle and Eastern Europe, by water, also woods, parks and gardens
Size: males up to 75 cm long, female between 85 and 110 cm
Appearance: grey-black, white spotted underside, yellow crescent-shaped spots behind the head
Food: eats amphibians, fish, small mammals
Other: likes water, shy, slithers away when threatened, if it can’t away it will make itself bigger or play dead by turning on its back and letting its tongue hang out, when being held it might secrete a smelly substance
Barrenringelnatter - Barred Grass Snake
Name: Barrenringelnatter, barred grass snake, Latin: Natrix helvetica
General: In 2017, scientists found out that the barred grass snake is its own species, not a grass snake subspecies.
Habitat: England, France, Benelux countries, Switzerland, Italy, and in Germany mostly west and south of the Rhine river, also spotted in southern Bavaria
Size: can reach a length of 2 meters, but is usually smaller, with an average length of 1.6 meters, males are shorter than females
Appearance: black bars running up the body, looks similar to a grass snake but has no or paler yellow crescent-shaped spots on the neck
Food: amphibians and their larvae
Other: sprays stinky substance for defense but is not dangerous, just like the Ringelnatter it might also play dead when threatened
Kreuzotter - Adder
Name: Kreuzotter, adder, Latin: Vipera berus
General: one of the two snakes in Germany that is venomous, they use it for hunting, they will only bite humans if threatened, touched or stepped on
Habitat: Middle, Northern, and Eastern Europe, Asia, in Germany found in the North German Plains, the eastern Central Uplands, and southern Germany, prefers areas with high humidity and stark temperature differences (day and night)
Size: average length of 50-70 cm, males are smaller than females
Appearance: black-brown zigzag pattern, but colors vary greatly
Food: mice, young birds, frogs, lizards
Other: was “Reptile of the Year 2024”, live-bearing, a black adder is called Höllenotter (hell adder), enemies are especially birds of prey, in 2004 on the island of Rügen an 81-year-old woman died from a Kreuzotter bite
Würfelnatter - Dice Snake
Name: Würfelnatter, dice snake, checkered water snake, Latin: Natrix tessellata
General: endangered, there are probably only a couple hundred left in Germany
Habitat: Middle, South, and South East Europe, West and Middle Asia; in Germany by the rivers Lahn, Moselle, and Nahe in Rhineland-Palatinate, and by the Elbe near Meißen in Saxony; lives in and near the water, spends a lot of time under water
Size: around 1 meter long, males normally only reach a maximum of 80 cm
Appearance: has a strong checkered/dice pattern, grey-brown-greenish to yellow
Food: almost exclusively fish
Other: was “Reptile of the Year 2009”, lays up to 25 eggs per year, likes to sunbathe in the mornings
Schlingnatter - Smooth Snake
Name: Schlingnatter, Glattnatter, smooth snake, Latin: Coronella austriaca; the name Schlingnatter comes from its hunting style where it entangles (schlingen) larger animals and suffocates them, the name Glattnatter refers to its smooth scales, the Latin term coronella means little crown and comes from the heart or crown pattern on its head, austriaca means Austrian
General: often mistaken for a Kreuzotter, can reach an age of 20 years
Habitat: Western, Middle, and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, like dry, sandy, and sunny spots, forest clearings, hillsides
Size: between 60 and 75 cm long
Appearance: grey-brown, dark stripe between eyes and mouth, small eyes with round pupil (difference to adder)
Food: reptiles (like Blindschleichen), young snakes, mice, lizards
Other: live-bearing, up to 15 babies per year at the end of summer, was “Reptile of the Year 2013”
Aspisviper - Asp Viper
Name: Aspisviper, asp viper, Latin: Vipera aspis
General: one of the two snakes in Germany that are venomous, usually not life-threatening for healthy people, in Germany it has the status of “critically endangered”
Habitat: north-east Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, and north-west Slovenia, in Germany only found in the south of the Black Forest, mountainous regions with dry and sunny hills
Size: usually between 60 and 85 cm long, males are longer than females
Appearance: dark rectangular spots in zigzag pattern, triangular head, vertical pupils
Food: small mammals, birds, lizards
Other: is an ambush predator (Lauerjäger) meaning it bites its prey and follows the dying animal to swallow it head first, in 2013 a 53-year-old man died from multiple bites of an Aspisviper, photo shows asp viper and baby
Äskulapnatter - Aesculapian Snake
Name: Äskulapnatter, Aesculapian snake/ratsnake, Latin: Zamenis longissimus, before: Elaphe longissma
General: symbol of medicine, found wrapped around the Aesculapian staff
Habitat: Southern and south-eastern Europe, only in a couple of regions in Germany (Rheingau, Sommerberg, Odenwald, Salzach, Passau), warm, sunny regions, stony regions, clear forest areas
Size: males can be up to 1.6 m long, females a little shorter; one of the largest snakes in Europe
Appearance: yellow-brown, olive-colored, grey-brown and/or grey-black, scales have white edges creating a spotted pattern
Food: small mammals especially mice, lizards, birds, their nestlings and eggs
Other: can be found on trees, lays up to 10 eggs per year, larger prey animals are choked to death, smaller ones are crushed by its jaw, the German symbol for pharmacies is a large A (for Apotheke) with the Aesculapian snake wrapped around a fountain
Blindschleiche - Slowworm
Name: Blindschleiche, slowworm, blindworm, Latin: Anguis fragilis, the name Blindschleiche (lit. blind lizard) doesn’t mean it’s blind, it probably comes from the Old High German plintslîcho which means “blendende oder glänzende Schleiche” (blinding or shiny lizard)
General: looks and acts like a snake but is a lizard, one of the most common reptiles in Middle Europe
Habitat: West, Middle, and North Europe, can live in a variety of biotopes, likes deciduous forests, hedges, parks, meadows, near bogs, moors
Size: around 45 cm long, half of which is tail
Appearance: colors vary from brown, grey, yellow, bronze and copper, might have dark spots or lines, underside is often lead-grey or black
Food: earth worms, slug, caterpillars without hair, bugs
Other: is not blind, differences to snakes: can cast off parts of its tail as a defense mechanism (doesn’t grow back), has eyelids, was “Reptile of the Year 2017”
