Slow worms are legless lizards — not snakes — that face significant predation in gardens from domestic cats and pheasants, while benefiting from appropriate microhabitat provision.
Slow worm welfare in gardens is threatened primarily by domestic cat predation. Cats that hunt in gardens kill and injure slow worms that cannot defend themselves effectively against a mammalian predator. Keeping cats indoors or fitting bell collars reduces slow worm predation, though collars are only partially effective. Providing appropriate microhabitat — corrugated tin sheets in sunny spots, log piles, and dense ground cover — allows slow worms to thermoregulate and shelter safely. Gardens with good slow worm populations benefit from natural slug control, creating a mutualistic relationship between garden management and reptile welfare.