The slow worm is a lizard. It was disturbed in August 2011 during repairs to the stone walls at Bourgon Castle and slithered into the grass. Its back is chocolate brown to grayish.
A more or less distinct dark dorsal stripe. Dark flanks. Females are lighter in color. Juveniles at birth: 8–9 cm.
Adult: 40 cm It lives in any damp habitat: meadows, hedgerows, thickets, roadsides, and dead tree trunks.
It is a crepuscular lizard
. Active at dawn and dusk. Not very fast. Does not climb trees. Needs water to drink.
It digs burrows in loose soil to protect itself from extreme temperatures. Sexual maturity: 3 years for males, 4 years for females. Males fight each other.
Ovoviviparous; gives birth at night to 6 to 24 young, which break free from the egg case at the moment of birth or in the hours that follow. It feeds on earthworms, snails and slugs, spiders, caterpillars, and beetles.