Rough Green Snake

Opheodrys aestivus

Rough Green Snake

RGSN

Status

The Rough Green Snake is generally uncommon throughout its range but common in localized areas.

Description

The Rough Green Snake is a medium-sized (56–116 cm), extremely slender snake. It is uniformly green dorsally, with a yellow or greenish-yellow venter.

Distribution

Opheodrys aestivus ranges from southern New Jersey to the Florida Keys. Westward, it extends to Kansas and Texas and into Mexico.

Habitat

The Rough Green Snake, an agile climber, is frequently found among shrubs and overhanging vegetation around lakes and streams. It is usually found at forest edges (ecotones) or in fairly open forests. Vegetation types include cypress ponds, bottomland hardwoods, pine flatwoods, pond pine-sweet bay pocosins, and vine tangles.

Special Requirements

This snake requires open-canopied forests or fields with abundant shrubs, vines and small trees.

Breeding Habits

Opheodrys is oviparous, females depositing 3–12 eggs during late spring or summer. Communal nesting sometimes occurs (Martof and others 1980).

Food Habits

The Rough Green Snake feeds primarily on soft-bodied arthropods, especially spiders, crickets, grasshoppers, and caterpillars.

Management Suggestions

This snake requires open woodlands with abundant understory or midstory. Management practices such as periodic burning, selective cutting, and tree harvesting without extensive site preparation will maintain or create habitat for this species.

Additional References

Plummer 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990; Wright and Wright 1957.