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Rough Green Snake

Family: Colubridae

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Opheodrys aestivusPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

     The beautiful Rough Green Snake is not only lovely to look at, but is so very gentle that it is a pleasure to handle!

     The Rough Green Snake is and excellent climbers and very agile, but they are also quite wiggly. They never display a bad temper and rarely if ever, attempt to bite. Despite their pleasant temperment they are a more difficult snake to maintain in captivity, and are suggested for a more advanced snake keeper.

For more Information on keeping Snakes see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Herptile

Distribution:      The Rough Green Snakes are found in North America. Specifically they are found in the eastern part of the United States; Connecticut to Florida, the Gulf States, and the Mississippi Valley to Kansas, Illinois and Ohio.

Description:    The Rough Green Snake is slender with keeled scales and a very long tail that tapers sharply to a pointed tip. They can reach up to 28" (71 cm). Void of patterning, this snake's coloring is iridescent leaf green on top with whitish to yellow to yellowish green underneath.

Feeding:    They should be feed live insects once or twice a week. Good insects to feed are crickets and moths. Soft-bodied insect larvae such as waxworms, butterworms, and mealworms are also good choices. Fresh water in a shallow dish should always be available.

Environment:    The rough green snake is an excellent climber and likes an arboreal type setting, so a vertical or semi-vertical tree limb with plant vining is great. The terrarium should be at least a 10"x14"x10". See Basic Reptile and Amphibian Care for more information.

Temperature and Lighting requirements:      They do well in 70 ° to 80 ° F with moderate humidity. Lighting requirements are minimal, they do not need full spectrum lighting though it is good for long term maintenance as it helps them feel good. You can use a substrate heating device for basic heating. For additional heat, you can add a full spectrum incandescent daytime bulb and a blacklight bulb or red incandescent bulb for nighttime heating. Be sure you use a thermometer so you don't let the terrarium become overheated!
     For more detailed information see the Basic Reptile and Amphibian Care: Housing.

Breeding/Reproduction:      These snakes lay four to twelve very elongated eggs. They will be deposited under a flat stone or a log, usually at the edge of the woods, where it meets a meadow. The young can be a grayish green to a pale delicate green at first, becoming the beautiful iridescent leaf green as they mature.

Availability:    Though the Rough Green Snake is generally available, they can be difficult to maintain in captivity. This is thought to be because we don't fully understand their natural diet. A variety of foods is probably best.

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I was going to buy a rough green snake from someone online and didn't due to high shipping. It's a good thing I didn't because my son found one in our backyard. I brought it inside and it's in a terrarium with a turtle shell to hide under and some faux foliage to climb around on. When I first brought him in he would musk me a little if I startled him, but he stopped doing that completely in a couple days. He doesn't rub his nose raw looking to escape and he eats really well (from a bowl no less!!), and really seems to enjoy handling. I take him out almost every day and lay him across my shoulders, he twines his body in my hair and around my neck and is content to stay that way for long periods of time. I don't understand why these aren't more prevalent in the pet trade, they are excellent pets. riann 2009-11-08
My daughter has a rgs and it seems friendly enough. I put freshly mowed grass in the tank every few days and keep it under a lamp. We've only had it a couple of days but it eats good and seems happy. I let it loose to crawl all over the house but it seems to stay in the living room and it eats the roaches we have along with crickets. I guess we're doing alright with it. My 6 yr old named it jacob, which we're not sure if it's a boy or girl. trista schwartz 2009-10-03
I bought a rough green snake 3 weeks ago and I can't seem to get it to eat. The tank it resides in is a 10 gallon, the humidity is always around 65-70', and there is adequate climbing and hiding places. I have 2 small crickets in there now that have been living in there since I got the snake. But it still wont eat. I even put a waxworm in it yesterday, and still no eating. What am I doing wrong? I love the snake, its a beautiful color and stays small, very docile allowing me to hold it everday. I really don't want to return it to the pet store I got it from. But how do I get it to eat? Jessika 2008-09-15
I have two RGS. My kids caught them at the river last summer. We feed them crickets from a local bait shop in the winter time. In the spring and summer we catch all kinds of bugs on the front porch (by the lights at night). We live in Alabama so its relatively warm all year and its easy to catch bugs for them. My kids like to take them out of the tank and play with them sometimes. I recently found out that they are male and female because we have eggs in the tank now. She had 5 eggs about 3 weeks ago. They are pale yellow in color and are almost as big as a jelly bean. Im excited to see if they are gonna hatch! I sure hope so! We might have to get a bigger tank for the whole family, I dunno. I wonder if anyone elso has had good luck hatching eggs in captivity. Tnoble 2008-06-06
I caught a rough green about 3 weeks ago, and he is the most gentle snake I have kept. We feed him 3 to 4 crickets every 4 days, he is a good eater and very friendly. At first though we couldn't get him to eat. We thought we would have to release him, but the day came when we were going to let him go, and he ate, lol. He is a great pet, and I would trust my 2 year old son around him any day. Amanda 2008-05-20
Some of the coolest comments:
These little snakes are going to be wild caught, and VERY heavily parasitized--to have a chance of keeping one alive for more than a short time, you will need to have it treated for parasites immediately. If you catch one yourself, this is the very first thing you should do once you have it eating for you--take the snake to a vet for a checkup, along with a fresh fecal sample, and have it deparasitized. Be sure to take it to an experience reptile vet--you don't want someone who will just shoot it up with ivomec and send it home. A proper course of fenbendazole and possibly metronidazole will most likely be what is used. donna 2010-01-17
It was good to hear of someone else who appreciates these beauties (Riana)! I've got 3 now. I have them in a large cage in my classroom (I teach 6th Grade Science). The kids absolutely love them as do I. From researching them, I've found that many die prematurely due to their diet and/or not having the enough humidity. I've only had mine for two months and I am trying as much as possible to vary their diet. However, crickets are the most readily available. But from what I understand it is best to feed them younger crickets with a soft/or no exoskeleton and to gut-load them with a mix of cricket food,collard greens and carrots. Please share any info you have too so we all have a better chance of keeping these guys alive. Dave Snyder 2009-11-15
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
i had a rgs for about 2 months i named it sully i love that snake but..it only ate twice though out of the 2 months..and then died. i never knew exactly when i was supposed to feed it cause the person i got it from never told me and i didn't have a computer at the time to look it up. so i put a cricket in there every other day thinking it would just eat it whenever it was hungry. but i guess it was never hungry cause the crickets ended up dying in there, had to clean them out. i put water and everything, Sully never touched it and i didn't know what to do. but now i found your website..and read how i was supposed to feed it...thank you for the information.. aimee 2006-07-12
Yea, I was looking for this informations, thanks ;) !~! Pellaore 2005-10-09

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