The Grass Snake Will Play Dead and Make a Stink About It

Grass snakes are nonvenomous reptiles with distinctive markings. This common snake plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by controlling amphibian populations and other prey.

The grass snake is particularly interesting because of its wide geographic range and adaptability. Let’s learn more about its physical characteristics, behaviors and importance to its habitats.

Physical Characteristics of Grass Snakes

Grass snakes (Natrix natrix) are typically dark green or olive with a distinctive yellow or white collar behind the head.

These snakes can grow quite large, with adults typically reaching lengths of 3 to 5 feet (0.91 to 1.52 meters), though some grow even longer. Due to its size and coloration, people sometimes confuse grass snakes for venomous species.

Grass Snake Subspecies

There are several subspecies of grass snakes found across Europe, including:

• Natrix natrix persa

• Natrix natrix fusca

• Natrix natrix natrix

• Natrix natrix gotlandica

Previously, the barred grass snake (Natrix natrix helvetica) fell under the grass snake subspecies. But this snake, primarily found in central and Eastern Europe, is now its own species.

Social Habits of Grass Snakes

Grass snakes are generally solitary animals, except during the breeding season in the spring. After emerging from hibernation, grass snakes breed, and the females seek warm, moist places to lay their eggs. Common sites include rotting vegetation, compost heaps or other areas where the warmth helps incubate the eggs.

Grass snakes are shy and will often flee when threatened, but if cornered, they might play dead as a defense mechanism. Playing dead involves the snake flipping onto its back, sometimes emitting a foul odor to deter predators. So, if you come across what looks like a dead grass snake, exercise caution, even if it smells like it's decaying.

The Grass Snake Diet

Grass snakes eat a variety of prey, with a diet primarily consisting of amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts. They also eat fish, small mammals and occasionally birds. These snakes are excellent swimmers and often hunt in and around water, where they can easily capture their prey.

Grass snakes aren't constrictors, so they don't subdue their prey by wrapping their bodies around it. Instead, they typically swallow their prey whole.

Their diet helps control populations of amphibians and other small animals, making grass snakes important predator species in their ecosystems.

Grass Snakes' Environment

Grass snakes live in a wide range of environments across Europe, from wetlands and marshes to forests and meadows. They prefer habitats near water, such as ponds, rivers and lakes, where they can easily hunt for amphibians and fish. In central and Eastern Europe, grass snakes are often found in damp, vegetated areas.

Grass snakes tend to be active during the day, especially in warm weather, and they often bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature.

The Grass Snake Life Cycle

Grass snakes hibernate during the winter months, usually from about October to March, depending on the climate. After emerging from hibernation in the spring, grass snakes breed, and the females lay their eggs.

Grass snakes are one of the few egg-laying snake species in Europe, and the warmth from decaying vegetation helps the eggs develop.

The eggs hatch after about 10 weeks, and the young snakes are immediately independent, although they are vulnerable to predation by birds, mammals and other larger snakes.

Conservation Status

While grass snakes are not currently endangered, they face threats from habitat loss, pollution and persecution by humans. The destruction of wetlands and other natural habitats significantly impacts grass snake populations.

Additionally, people sometimes kill these snakes out of fear or because they mistake them for venomous species, even though they are harmless.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was edited and fact-checked by a HowStuffWorks editor.

Original article: The Grass Snake Will Play Dead and Make a Stink About It

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