Opheodrys aestivus
Rough
Green Snake
Opheodrys aestivus
These slender emerald snakes are common residents of the southeast. Because they are so well camouflaged they are rarely seen. Look for them in vine thickets on warm days in the early spring. Green Snakes are excellent climbers and spend most of their lives in trees or bushes. They eat a variety of pesty insects and spiders which they capture and swallow alive.
Green Snakes are egg layers depositing four to ten eggs in a rotten log in late spring or early summer. The seven- to eight-inch young hatch 60 to 70 days later. Green Snakes reach adult size (2.5 - 3 feet) in 2 years. Like most of the snakes in this area they are nonvenomous and pose no threat to humans.
This information is provided as a public service by the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Outreach Program.
