anguis fraguilis...can i get them in the US?

[mouse]

i grew up in germany and we had "blindschleichen" (translated : blindsnakes) more or less in the backyard. as far as i know the are native to europe only.
in the beginning i mistook the for snakes, but known for years that they were actually lizards without legs. now i finally found their latin name...anguis fraguilis.
now i was wondering ...are they by any chance available in the US?
since i don't think that i'll be going back to germany and i really don't think my brother over there would send me anything that he think i can do without.
he even complains about my T's.
where would i have to look to see about aquiring one of those? (since i can't walk into the back yard like i did in my hometown in germany)
anything special i would need to know about them ( i never kept the ones i caught longer than one or two houres before setting them free again).

dianne

 

[nightbreed]

slow worm is what we call em in the UK awsome little critters i caught one when i was a kid kept it for a little while it turned out to be in the family way lol gave birth to 18 perfect little miniature slow worms sooo cute i realised i couldnt care for the little ones so i released mum and her brood into my backyard
dunno where you'd get one stateside
I only kept the one i had for a couple of weeks so i dont know if they have any special needs but i bet if you treated it as you would any other lizard (just a bit cooler than most) it would be ok

 

[moricollins]

would these also be called "legless lizards"? if so i've seen them for sale on some ads at www.kingsnake.com

and more specifically:
Here
and

here

Hope this helps
Mori

 

[mouse]

thanks for the info. and yes i guess they are/could be called legless lizards - but i don't think they are the russian legless lizards. i'm only used to the gunmetal grey color phase, but they can be (i read) yellow and brown also. they don't get all that big and thick bodied as the ones in the pic. i did find a pic online but i don't know if the mods will let me post it since isn't my pic.

dianne

 

[Vys]

Russian legless lizards are Ophisaurus apodus,
http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/Lizards/sheltopusik.html

Kopparödla, alt. ormslå:
http://t-ad.net/skhf/sgk/anguis.html

Why are they called blind though; they have eyelids?

Edit. Seems nigh impossible to find any information about keeping them in captivity..just some vague reference to one that survived for a long time in that state...well. It made me curious, until I realized that it, like every lizard, frog and snake here, is fridlyst. Well, a couple of sucky too-warm winters like these more and we shall soon have more such species!

Edit: 'Gunmetal grey', hey, you don't happen to paint miniatures or anything?

 

[mouse]

Vys....they are not blind. the reason they are called blind is because because of the color. the way i understood is their name started out as blenden (meaning shiny/shining) and changed to blind. since i guess light would kinda reflect off of them.
what do you mean about paining miniatures? if i have a pic ture of the lizard or if i am an artist? well i "borrowed" a few pic's from the internet of the lizard, but i can't draw or paint. i did try myself at writing years ago...but only for fun and for family and friends to read.

dianne

 

[Vys]

Ahaaa, I see.

I just meant that colours for painting miniatures tend to be called 'Bad moon yellow' and 'Rotting purple' and 'boltgun metal' and things like that, nowadays. Out of curiosity though, what kind of things did you write?

Anyway, some american lizard-dealer should be able to tell you if kopparormar can be had in the U.S, I guess.

 

[mouse]

well as far as wriygoes it started in school. mostly stories about ghosts, vampires, werewolfs, tried some western, fantasy type stuff, a few montsers, nothing too bloody, more like toward teens and kids i guess (monsters happened to be good guys). kinda like the vampire romance novels that are available now .

dianne

 

[mouse]

here is a pic of the critter
it is not mine tho