Description: A long (up to 63 inches total length), plain green, yellow-green, or olive snake with a plain cream to light yellow underside. Young are gray to gray-green with prominent gray-brown dorsal blotches. As the snake ages the blotches begin to fade and the snakes coloration becomes more green. The dorsal blotches eventually disappear into the green background coloration. The dorsal scales are mildly keeled. The head is relatively long and narrow and is clearly distinct from the thin neck. The pupils are round. Females usually grow to a longer length than males.

Habitat: Habitats include woodlands and chaparral of rocky mountain canyons near streams in the United States, montane mesophytic forests along the slopes of the Mexican highlands and in Central America, and xeric forest in western and southern Mexico. Sometimes this snake can be found in agricultural areas or in buildings in towns. It is terrestrial and arboreal and uses rock crevices or underground burrows as shelter.

Range: Senticolis triaspis is well distributed in the Baboquivari, Pajarito, Atascosa, Santa Rita, Empire, Patagonia, Chiricahua, Swisshelm, Pedregosa, and Peloncillo mountains of southeastern Arizona.

Found in these States: AZ | NM

Diet: Senticolis triaspis consumes small animals such as lizards, birds, and bats, killing them by deadly constriction.

Reproduction: During reproduction, an adult female of S. triaspis is able to lay up to 9 eggs in a clutch.

Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a threatened category.

Subspecies: Three with just one found in our region:
   Northern Green Rat Snake - (Senticolis triaspis intermedia)
   Unnamed Greet Rat Snake - (Senticolis triaspis mutabilis)
   Yucatán Green Ratsnake - (Senticolis triaspis triaspis)

Taxonomy: