North GroundHuntNorth Ground Hunt — return to North Ground
Species authority page

Smooth green snake

Opheodrys vernalis · Snakes · Reptiles

Smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis): Slender, bright green above with smooth dorsal scales (15 rows at midbody) and a white or yellowish belly. Adults usually 30-51 cm, up to about 61 cm; the tail is nearly half of total length. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Opheodrys vernalis
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Nova Scotia west across southern Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba) to southeastern Saskatchewan, south through the northeastern and Midwestern US to Virginia, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah; western populations are highly disjunct.
Biology

How to identify it

Slender, bright green above with smooth dorsal scales (15 rows at midbody) and a white or yellowish belly. [1][2]

Adults usually 30-51 cm, up to about 61 cm; the tail is nearly half of total length. [1][2]

Young are dull olive-gray to bluish-gray or grayish brown; adults turn blue or gray after death. [1][2]

Smooth scales separate it from the rough green snake (keeled scales); single nostril scale and smaller size separate it from racers. [1][2]

Compared with the rough green snake: Has keeled rather than smooth dorsal scales. [1][2]

Compared with the racer: Larger; nostril sits between two scales rather than centred in one scale. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a smooth green snake before you act. Compared with the rough green snake: Has keeled rather than smooth dorsal scales.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Grassy, open areas: meadows, grassy marshes, moist fields at forest edges, bogs, stream borders and open moist woodland. [1][2]

Often near wetlands or open water. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal; basks on boulders or logs and may hang in low branches; inactive roughly November-March. [1][2]

Eats small terrestrial invertebrates such as caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers and spiders. [1][2]

Can aggregate in hibernacula (groups of 100-150 found in Manitoba and Minnesota) and sometimes uses abandoned ant mounds. [1][2]

Eggs are laid under rotting wood, underground or under rocks; some individuals cross roads at night during warm rains. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Nova Scotia west across southern Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba) to southeastern Saskatchewan, south through the northeastern and Midwestern US to Virginia, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah; western populations are highly disjunct.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology