My Top Five Favourite Reptiles from Bulgaria

5 -  Loggerhead sea turtle - Caretta caretta

They have been recorded twice along the black sea coast!  It is the world's second largest hard- shelled turtle! The turtle is omnivorous, feeding mainly on bottom dwelling invertebrates,
such as: star fish, sea cucumbers, fish, sea worms and many more!
I have never seen this reptile.

4 - European legless lizard - Pseudopus apodus

  This lizard can reach up to 135 cm! Their favourite foods are: snails, slugs and even small mammals which might be the reason they are mainly active when there is wet weather.
They will bite, musk and hiss if thought to be threatened.
I have never found this reptile.

3 - Kotshy's gecko - Cyrtopodion kotschyi

It is a very small lizard growing to a length of 10 cm including its tail!! Females are often a little bit bigger then the males. Its habitats are: cliffs, dry stone areas, tree trunks and stone walls. They are normally nocturnal, but at cooler times of the year they will come out in the day. The female will lay one or two eggs under a rock. When born (after 18 weeks or so) they will be around two cm long!!!!! I have seen this reptile once!

My friend bought into school. He put it in an awful plastic box without any holes. I had a go at him for being so silly and in annoyance, I snatched the box and took out the gecko
I checked if it was alright, it looked fine but I didn't want to give it back to the boy.
So I made a RUN FOR IT!!! LOL and left him there with his box.
When I got home I placed him on a rock near my pond.

2 - Four- lined snake - Elaphe quatuorlineata

Adults usually grow up to 180 cm but in extreme cases can reach 200 cm in length.
There is another name for this snake - the Bulgarian rat snake. Their main diet consists of: rabbit, mice and squirrels, lizards, birds and tortoise eggs!!
The mating season lasts from April to May. The eggs are laid in the summer. Usually, the snakes lay between 6 -18 eggs per clutch. They incubate them for about 40 to 60 days.

I have never seen this reptile!

1 - Dahl's whip snake - Platyceps najadum

Females lay between 3-16 eggs in a clutch!
This snake is threatened by forest fires and intensive agriculture! It has a slim body and in rare cases can be found up to a metre in full length. It lives in desert and rocky landscapes, forests and fields.
I have never seen this reptile, but really want to!