Smooth Green Snake Information
The smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis), also referred to as a grass snake in parts of its range due to its vivid green color and terrestrial habitat, is a slender, harmless snake found in parts of the northern and western United States and the southern portion of a few Canadian provinces.
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Identification
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Smooth green snakes display bright green dorsal coloration, and have a cream- or yellow-colored underside. Some smooth green snakes are tan in color, and juveniles can be gray, brown or olive in color. These slender snakes have smooth scales and narrow heads, and typically measure around 1 to 2 feet in length. Smooth green snakes lose their yellow pigment after death, which turns the snake's body blue.
Geography
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Smooth green snakes are found in North America, primarily in the New England and mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. Their range extends down into Ohio and Virginia, and along the Great Lakes in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. They can also be found in isolated patches of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Missouri, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska and North and South Dakota.
In Canada, smooth green snakes are found in the southern parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec, and in the Maritime provinces.
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Habitat
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The habitat of the smooth green snake varies. They can be found in open grassy areas like parks, lawns and vacant lots, fields, marshes, savanna, open woodlands, scrubland and drainage ditches. These snakes prefer to spend their time on the ground, but will climb into brush or low-hanging branches if they need to. Smooth green snakes hibernate underground in burrows, abandoned anthills and beneath rotting wood.
Food Chain
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Smooth green snakes feed mostly on small terrestrial insects and spiders. Their diet includes caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, crickets, slugs and millipedes. They have also been known to consume crayfish and snails.
Smooth green snakes are preyed upon primarily by birds--including birds of prey and brown thrashers--small mammals and even other snakes.
Behavior
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Smooth green snakes are primarily diurnal, and are active from April or May to early autumn. Smooth green snakes typically mate during early spring and will lay their eggs in mid summer. A female can lay between three and 18 eggs, depending on the snake's age and the region in which the eggs are laid. Most clutches contain between four and nine eggs which are laid in crevices under rocks and logs or in burrows, according to the Montana Field Guide to smooth green snakes.
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