Rough Green Snake

[muddoc]

This isn't our first find of the year, but it is our first find that has not been catalogued by us. We like to take pictures of species that we have not caught before, and this is our first new species of the year.

Monica came inside yesterday to let me know that she had just seen a snake that was bright green and solid colored. I knew I had never seen one before, so I took to running to the spot of the encounter. Monica was cutting grass, and was trimming right next to a bunch of vegetation, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a snake hanging by her shoulder. Well this little aboreal guy was probably hunting for some food. We caught him after a little searching, as he had moved by the time we got back to the spot of the sighting, and brought him to the house for a photo shoot. I put him on our rubber plant for some naturalistic photos, and picked the best of the bunch to post. I also wanted to get a shot for size reference ( he was between 24 and 28 inches) and for a full body shot, so there is one of it in my hands (taken by Monica). These snake can reportedly reach about 45 inches, so he was probably about a year old. Enjoy the pics of a Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus).

[Colin Vestrand]

lucky! its close relative, the smooth green snake, is one of the only michigan species to elude me thus far. probably because they blend in so well...

[muddoc]

Colin,
You are correct. I don't think we would have ever found one of these, if it weren't for a bunch of luck on my wife's part, and a bunch of luck on my part, as we looked for it for 15 minutes, before I finally spotted it. I was about to give up.

[Colin Vestrand]

i had a similar thing happen last year with a snake my wife saw... i went outside and we looked for 20 minutes before we gave up... then as we were walking inside, it wriggled out of the brush we were just looking in. just a ribbon snake, but still fun.

[Rapture]

Tim that snake is really beautiful, thanks for sharing! I stumbled upon an anole today... but that's not as cool.

[littleindiangirl]

lucky! its close relative, the smooth green snake, is one of the only michigan species to elude me thus far. probably because they blend in so well...

I've never caught anything but a milk snake and garters lol. All the really cool ones are rare.

[BMorrison]

That's an awesome snake. Haven't caught one of those yet.
Caught a Massasauga (sp?) rattler a few years ago though out in my parents field... (PS I have no experience with hots. My heart was racing 3billion mph!)

[muddoc]

Thanks for all of the comments everyone. When my wife said she saw a solid bright green snake, I thought maybe she was drunk. I had to look it up in my book to find out what it was ( I actually checked with Sean Bradley before I looked in the book). I have never seen one before, and thought we were lucky to be able to catch a wild one. I feel like we may never see one again in the wild.

[Patrick Long]

I have wanted one of those for a while, something about pure green snake just gets me all wriled up!!

[MelissaFlipski]

Colin and Diana, rough green snake (GORGEOUS! I am SOOO jealous!) and anoles? You just gave me another reason to move south - better field herping!!!