Rivenrock Gardens Cactus Blog

A green ratsnake

I found a snake I have heard of but never seen here before. As I was walking from our orchard back to the house I found him winding his long lithe body around a bunch of grass along the roadside. He has a very smooth skin, so unlike the snakes we normally find here. The coloration is almost a lime green on the upperside, and a lemon yellow on the bottom. This is a most striking and unusual snake. Also, he was very sedate while being held by us, he did not try very hard to get away. But he did keep his eyes on the camera, almost anywhere I held the camera he kept his eyes on it, watching and observing the camera. Also, he had a terrible odor, some kind of a defensive mechanism I suppose, it smelled so like the water snakes I’ve caught before. Senticolis triaspis (Green Ratsnake)