Yesterday at a friend's party we found a injured adult slow worm with cuts to the back of the head and he had dropped his tail. So far we have cleaned his wounds and he appears to be recovering although both his eyes are shut and are not opening. Our vet said to keep him until his eyes open (we have a suitable habitat to release him into - our allotment which already has a population of slow worms). He has live food and water in his tank and we have seen him drink but we are not sure how to set up his tank, whether you need soil or gravel as a floor in the tank and whether he needs lots of water or just a small dish and also what would be the ideal temperature to keep him at, also would he be okay to eat mealworms? So far he has only had worms and a few tiny slugs, please help.

Alex

Hi,

I have very little expeience of treating reptiles and amphibians, but if sounds like this slowworm may have been attacked by a cat. The advice given by your vet sounds good to me, and as far as looking after him now is concerned you may be able to get help from the other Vetclick site 'Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation'

W

Hi
The advice given by your vet is good. Sloworms heal very quickly and need to be released as soon as possible as they don't take well to captive environments. As soon as his eyes are open I would get him released. The vet will be able to tell you if the eyes are inflamed at all in which case they may need a couple of days of eye drops but you will probably find his eyes will be ok after a day or two. Does sound like cat injuries but it is unlikely that the sloworm needs antibiotics. As far as substrate goes, I wouldn't use gravel, but soil mixed with some leaf litter if you can get some, or preferably just leaf litter & a small, shallow container of water. The leaf litter will contain insects etc which it may eat, but probably not in captivity.
Hope this helps.

Hi, Caroline,

Thank you for that very helpful advice.

Walter

hi

my names sonny ive got a slow worm its had a cut and i droped a plug on its tail my nan said it will heal as soon as possible oh its just healed if its a small cut it takes 3 to 6 mins

hi i have a baby slow worm what do you think i can feed it on

I've got a poor little slow worm that won't eat a thing it not moving but it's still alive what do I do