Olive Grass Snake

Name

Olive Grass Snake, Olive Whip Snake [Psammophis mossambicus]

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Colubridae

Length_F

1 285 mm

Length_M

1 451 mm

Description

The Olive Grass Snake is a large, robust snake with a non-flattened snout and a long tail. The back is olive-brown (paler towards the tail), sometimes with black-edged scales, forming thin black lines or with scattered black flecks on the forebody. The belly is white-yellow.

Distribution

The Olive Grass Snake occurs in some parts of Mpumalanga and northern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and other countries in Southern Africa.

Breeding

The female lays 10 - 30 eggs in dead leaves, etc., in midsummer. They hatch in about 65 days.

Venom

Its venom may cause nausea and pain.

Diet

It occasionally eats other snakes, lizards, frogs and even young black mambas.

Field Notes

Personal observations have included watching the Olive Grass Snake, on two occasions, swallow an Angola green snake [Philothamnus angolensis].
Kruger National Park - South African Safari