Slow worm

Found this slow worm in my garage the other day.  Unfortunately it was dead and had dried hard and rigid in this shape.  

I wonder what the story was.  Was it old and ill and sought a quiet place to breathe it's last?  Did it crawl in and then fail to find its way out again?  My best guess is that it came into the garage to hibernate a year or so ago, but never made it through the winter.

At least we can take comfort that these members of the lizard fraternity are still alive and about the place - except for this one, of course.

Slow worms are not snakes although they have no legs.  

Two lizardy clues - 

• slow worms blink - they have eyelids, which snakes don't
• slow worms can shed their tails like other lizards;  snakes can't.