| 1 | Emerald tree boa |
Maximum length: 210.8cm.
The emerald tree boa is renowned for having one of the slowest metabolisms among snakes, going months between meals with ease. This is a species of the Amazon rainforest, which curls around branches for days without moving, and almost never strays into neighbouring cocoa or banana fields.
You can find this hyper-green species in Brazil, Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana. Emerald tree boas are creatures of moistness, and only appear in areas receiving over 1500mm per year. They exclusively use ambush tactics, using their green colours to completely blend in with the dense Amazon foliage. Their white patches, meanwhile, are designed to mimic small beams of light shining through the high canopies.
Emerald tree boas reach a record of 210.8cm, and their front fangs are extremely brutal, designed for gripping prey before constriction. They stick to greenness throughout their empire, but with subtle variations. The Amazon basin further south hosts a version with extra white markings, which sometimes fuse to form unbroken white lines.
In northern Peru, meanwhile, there’s a significantly darker green colony, while still retaining the bright white markings. The “main” version pictured above lives primarily in the Guinea shield further north.
| 2 | Green tree python |
Maximum length: 220cm.
This unrelated Australian species looks extremely similar to the emerald tree boa, even down to the resting branch position of placing their head comfortably in a nest of coils. In the international pet trade, where both are popular, these hyper-green snakes are often confused.
The green tree python is an Australian species which dwells exclusively in the rainforests of Queensland, in northeast Australia. They’re particularly common in notophyll vine forests, and they virtually never leave their tree branches.
Their diet mostly consists of rodents, and their head is extremely thick and bulky. The green is all consuming with this species, with a handful of perfectly shaped white spots that resemble missing scales. At birth however, they’re a bright banana yellow, with barely a hint hint of green. It takes the green tree python several months to attain their adult colouring.
On Biak Island, Indonesia, this species can take as long as 5 years to achieve full adult greenness, but they nearly always get there in the end. Despite the high pet trade demand, green tree pythons remain of “least concern” worldwide.
Other pythons in Queensland include the scrub python, but this species doesn’t have a single scale of green on its body, and strays to the ground far more often. Time will tell which species wins the serpent wars and completely takes over Queensland.
| 3 | Greater green snake (Ptyas major) |
Maximum length: 130cm.
A thin snake with a small head, which can inflict nothing more than a pair of tiny, pinprick wounds. The greater green snake (Ptyas major) is found in southern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and is less of a tree snake than others on this list. It splits its time between branches, where it sleeps during the night, and the ground, where it scours parks and woodlands for its main prey: earthworms.
The greater green snake has a mild temperament, and usually flees rather than entering the battle fray. Their colour scheme has little variation. It’s green, green and more green, with the exceptions of a yellow-green belly and light brown iris. This species can camouflage in trees and the grassy parks of Hong Kong alike.
Alas, the greater green snake has made a big mistake: its greenness is constantly provoking attacks by fearful locals. In Hong Kong, it’s regularly mistaken for the venomous white-lipped pitviper, while in Taiwan, it’s regularly misidentified as a Chinese pitviper. Both species are just as green, but differentiated by their sharply vertical pupils.
| 4 | Green watersnake (South Africa) |
Maximum length: 96cm.
The green watersnake (Philothamnus hoplogaster) is a harmless species of southeast Africa, including eastern South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique. This is a semi-aquatic species which is especially abundant in bushes next to rivers or lakes, and also manifests in maize and bean fields not far from water.
The green watersnake has a shade of green which is barely distinguishable from moist riverside vegetation. With their short 50-60cm body size, they’re masters of disguise, and can watch the world go by from their clumps of grass without ever being noticed. Green watersnakes prey heavily on frogs, and have smooth scales to touch rather than keeled and rough.
Some local Africans confuse this species with the deadly green mamba, but Philothamnus hoplogaster is a harmless, non-venomous snake. As this video proves, an explorer can pick up 5-10 green watersnakes and have them look nothing more than confused.
Green watersnakes are rated as “Least concern” by the IUCN, and along well-vegetated river shores, they can be extremely abundant, with many packed into a few square metres.
| 5 | Common green racer |
Maximum length: 137.6cm.
If the emerald tree boa is the slowest, laziest green species, then the common green racer (Chlorosoma viridissimus) is one of the fastest and whippiest. This species has a large range in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and French Guiana, with new territory being discovered all the time. They have the rich foliage green and long, tapering tail typical of all tree snakes, but are also spotted regularly on the ground.
Common green racers bask on paved roads at midday, and are often found lurking in overgrown, disused agricultural areas near villages. They average at 1 metre long, and when threatened, they bare their mouth wide, flatten their body, and coil into an intimidating S-shape, all while perched delicately on their branches.
There’s an enduring mystery as to how venomous this hyper-green snake is. In 2006, a scientist suffered a savage bite to the arm when he grabbed a common green racer by the mid-section. He experienced no symptoms except pain, but a bite in a Virginia pet shop supposedly caused severe swelling and compartmental syndrome, resulting in a deformed arm for the female victim. It’s possible that this second case was a misidentified species, or that the first case was a lucky dry bite.
| 6 | Green cat snake (Boiga cyanea) |
Maximum length: 187cm.
A 150cm snake of southeast Asia, and an extremely green one. Green catsnakes (Boiga cyanea) are very common in Thailand and Cambodia, but you won’t find them in cities like Bangkok, as this is a rural forest snake. They inhabit many types of forest, at altitudes of up to 2100 metres.
Against a backdrop of Thai forest foliage, Boiga cyanea can be almost invisible, as long as they slither slowly. They use this green camouflage for one wicked purpose – raiding the nests of songbirds. A study from northeast Thailand found that green catsnakes were responsible for 17-33% for all raidings.
In adulthood, this species is almost completely green, with the occasional hint of blue and white. Juveniles look very different, beginning life as red-brown with a green head, which trickles down the body as they age, until achieving full green coverage.
Green catsnakes also have a black inner mouth, although we don’t recommend getting close enough to take a look. This species lacks a proper front fang venom, but has a mild rear-fanged venom which can cause numbness, tingling and swelling.
| 7 | Rough green snake (USA) |
Maximum length: 116cm.
The southern relative of the smooth green snake, which lives across the northeastern US and even a swathe of Canada. Rough green snakes stick to the southeastern US, including Indiana, central Texas, and almost all of Florida. Both belong to the small Opheodrys genus.
Rough green snakes can reach high densities in the wild, with up to 295 per hectare in certain hotspots. Nevertheless, their vivid green colours make them difficult to spot, in the moist vegetation and overgrown grass they favour. They’re also extremely thin, so thin that they could probably hide behind a single blade of grass if they put their mind to it.
Rough green snakes lack any noticeable patterns, with a vivid green body contrasting against a yellowish belly with strong green tinges. Even their eyes have slight green tinges, surrounding a jet black pupil.
Compared to the smooth green snake, their eyes are larger, and they’re significantly longer, with an all-time record of 116cm versus 79.7cm. There’s also a signature patch of rough/keeled scales on their back, separating them from the consistently smooth northern version.
This harmless snake is an insect swallower, as studies have found that during hot, dry summers which reduce insect numbers, the rough green snake also decreases.
| 8 | Green bush ratsnake |
Maximum length: 135cm.
The only place immune from greenness with this species is its mouth and pupils, which are pink and black respectively. The green bush ratsnake (Gonyosoma prasinum) is a tree-dwelling species with a large territory in southeast Asia, ranging from Bangladesh through Thailand to peninsular Malaysia. Its body is a rich leafy green, while its underside is paler, but with constant green tinges.
Green bush ratsnakes reach a record of 135cm. While non-venomous, this arboreal snake is extremely nervous, and gets agitated quickly when approached. Reptile keepers have testified that if you bother this species in its glass cage playground, it will launch itself into thin air. Another stopped eating for an entire month.
This snake is barely researched in the wild (to be fair, there’s 3900 snake species to cover), but is fussy in captivity, refusing to eat mice. It’s more agreeable to rats, but still takes some persuasion. It’s highly likely that this extremely green snake prefers lizards or amphibians.
There’s also chaos with its family. These days, the green bush ratsnake belongs to the 8-member Gonyosoma genus, but it was originally assigned to Coluber, then Elaphe, then Rhadinophis, and finally Gonyosoma. Nobody could make their mind up about this snake.
In 2021, the green bush ratsnake was separated into two species, with the new one being Gonyosoma coeruleum, first discovered in southern China. This new species was equally green, but had blue irises instead of brown, while its mouth was a greyer colour rather than pink. Its belly also had less of a green tinge.
| 9 | Eastern green mamba |
Maximum length: at least 230cm.
The notorious black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) isn’t black, but grey. Its relative the eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) is most definitely green. They have a very similar colour scheme to the US rough green snake – rich green scales with a yellow-green belly.
Green mambas are found in eastern areas of South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. They’re far more of a tree-dweller than the adventurous black mamba, although with their large size, they blend in pretty poorly compared to other green serpents.
Green mambas move just 5.4 metres in an average day. While their eyes are brown, their bodies are green from day 1. Hatchlings are merely a slightly different shade of green, with faint black lines between their scales which gradually fade away.
The venom of this species is milder than the black mamba’s, and few deaths have been recorded. The green mamba lives in its own world, and is far less likely to chase farmers down dusty rural paths. They have the ability to kill people, they just can’t be bothered, as this would reduce their time slumped blissfully over branches.
| 10 | Pope’s pitviper (Southeast Asia) |
Maximum length: 105cm.
One of the endless green pitviper species in southeast Asia, but the Pope’s pitviper (Trimeresurus popeiorum) is particularly vivid. This green snake reaches a maximum size of just over 1 metre, and sticks to higher altitudes, inhabiting moist forests above 800 metres in Bangladesh, Myanmar and northeast India. They appear most commonly in the wet season, and despite their green scales matching the jungle precisely, they show up extremely clearly in the glare of torchlight.
Pope’s pitviper is mainly dark green on its back, with a white to pale green belly. The exception is a pair of clear red lines which some individuals possess, which extend to a ruby red eye. The red line is bordered by white, before the sea of unrelenting green begins anew. The colours are particularly rich, like a camera turned up to full saturation mode, except that it isn’t.
This species’ venom is not to be taken lightly, with strong haemorrhaging properties – the usual trick for the Trimeresurus pitviper genus. While they climb trees, Pope’s pitvipers rarely reach towering heights, usually sticking to just above ground or 2 metres in the air.
| 11 | Green vine snake |
Maximum length: 206.3cm.
The green vine snake (Oxybelis fulgidus) is one of the most widespread snakes of the Americas, inhabiting all 7 central American countries, southern Mexico, plus a swathe of South America. Despite this, there’s probably thousands upon thousands of people per day who walk past it without knowing, as this snake is one of the most consistently green on Earth.
There are few snakes which are greener, and few which are such a perfect match for a piece of jungle foliage. This is the green vine snake’s entire survival strategy – blending into the jungle by looking like the jungle. Their body is green to mimic chlorophyll, and their body is thin to sway in the breeze (literally sometimes) and just resemble another piece of the complex rainforest.
Green vine snakes prey on birds and reptiles, particularly iguanas, never eating mammals in the wild. Their defensive strategy is to bare their mouths open wide, hiss and coil their necks, and generally look as demented as possible to scare enemies away.
For such a widespread snake, this species has an extremely mysterious venom. It’s well researched in animals, as it’s known to be highly specialised against lizards and birds, with very little effect on mice, despite containing a powerful neurotoxin called fulgimotoxin. It’s in humans where we know nothing. One man was bitten on the arm and experienced dizziness and a rising heartbeat, but this could just have easily been from sheer panic. In any case, this snake seems unable to kill with one bite.
| 12 | Asian vine snake |
Maximum length: 197cm.
We started this article with a bizarre parallel and now we’re ending it with one. Just as the emerald tree boa has an unrelated lookalike halfway around the world, so does the green vine snake – the Asian vine snake (Ahaetulla prasina).
This species is found in Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and more, and shares the tree-dwelling nature, almost pure green colours, and incredibly thin body of its cousin. The main difference is that Asian vine snakes have bizarrely shaped pupils that resemble keyholes, whose exact purpose is still unknown. Asian vine snakes live in forested areas, and if it wasn’t for their camouflage, they would be very easy to find in Thailand, as they’re very common. They can rest on incredibly thin branches, being incredibly thin and light themselves.
Asian vine snakes have a mild venom, which is lethal for lizards but poses no serious threat to humans. Rather than rapidly injected from front fangs, Asian vine snakes must repeatedly chew their venom into enemies. This is just one member of the 21-strong Ahaetulla genus, most of which are green as well, although there’s a few brown members (e.g. the Sahyadri hills whipsnake of India).
There’s a slight caveat with the Asian vine snake – this is a snake with many morphs, and in some locations they’re not green at all. For example, Tat Mok National Park is home to a high proportion of silver ones, with the silver even spreading to their tongue.