Smooth Green Snake (Opheodrys vernalis) (27402589353)🐍

Photo: Peter Paplanus · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesColubridae
Reptiles

🐍Smooth green snake

Opheodrys vernalis (Harlan, 1827)

The smooth green snake is a species of North American nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures 36–51 cm (14–20 in) as an adult. It gets its common name from its smooth dorsal scales, as opposed to the rough green snake, which has keeled dorsal scales. The smooth green snake is found in marshes, meadows, open woods, and along stream edges, and is native to regions of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. A non-aggressive snake, it seldom bites and usually flees when threatened. It mates in late spring to summer, and females lay their eggs from June to September. The smooth green snake will often bob its head in order to mimic vegetation blowing in the wind.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
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Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/600th of your weight
Also called
Smooth Greensnake
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.1 kg
Body length
0.81 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
6.1 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Smooth green snake

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.1 kgrecord 0.07 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
0.81 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
6.1 yearsrecord 6.1 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Carnivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.1 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Smooth green snake yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classSquamata
  4. ›familyColubridae
  5. ›genusOpheodrys
  6. ›speciesOpheodrys vernalis
Full lineage
  1. superorderLepidosauria
  2. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  3. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  4. genusOpheodrys
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. superorderLepidosauria
  10. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  11. infraorderSnakes · Serpentes
  12. genusOpheodrys
More

More about the Smooth green snake

In other languages
Couleuvre verte (fr), Sima zöldsikló (hu), Трав'яний вуж гладкий (uk), Opheodrys vernalis (it), Glatte Grasnatter (de), Opheodrys vernalis (sv) … and 10 more languages
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