Vital Statistics
- Name
- Olive Grass Snake, Olive Whip Snake [Psammophis mossambicus]
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- 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 the northern parts of the region, extending south along the Kwa-Zulu Natal coast and elsewhere to Kenya.
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, even young black.
Field Notes
Personal observations have included watching the Olive Grass Snake, on two occasions, swallow an Angola green snake [Philothamnus angolensis]. | 
