A Smooth Green Snake

Smooth Green Snakes are not poisonous, and in fact are very desirable additions to your back yard or garden. They are easily identifiable by their bright green colour, and cannot be easily confused with any other species of snake in North America. Ranging in length from fourteen to twenty six inches, they are too small to eat anything but insects, and they tend to eat many nuisance insects: caterpillars, beetles, centipedes, millipedes, grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects that can damage houses and gardens. By giving these snakes, which are endangered in some areas, a suitable place to live, you will be rewarded with far fewer nuisance insects, and can safely exist with these snakes without fear of being bitten.

Smooth Green Snakes live on the ground, and prefer open spaces with medium to tall grasses, where their bright green colour perfectly camouflages them. As with all wildlife that eats insects, you will need to adopt organic methods of lawn maintenance: insecticides and pesticides not only kill off insects, their food source, but the insects that are resistant to the pesticides will end up poisoning the snake that eats them; and snakes get their source of water from droplets clinging to the grass, so weed killers and herbicides will seep into the water, making it poisonous to the snake.

Smooth Green Snakes also need places to lay their eggs, so leaving them a little brush, rock pile, or a few logs together will help them find safe places to lay their eggs. In addition, like all reptiles, snakes need warmth, so providing a rock pile in a sunny place will allow them to bask in the sun and soak up the warmth they need to move. Smooth Green Snakes are not aggressive to humans, and rarely have the jaw strength to break the skin; however, as with all wild life, you should be extremely careful in handling Smooth Green Snakes, and avoid handling them at all if possible. If you must relocate a Smooth Green Snake, try to catch it just behind the head and hold it gently, and gently move it to another, more desirable location, as all snakes can emit a foul smelling liquid as a defense mechanism against predators. With these precautions, you will find that you can easily and peacefully coexist with these beautiful garden residents, who will provide you with many years of eating nuisance insects, saving your time and money!