Growth and Maturity in Green Snakes (Opheodrys aestivus)

I studied growth and maturity by mark-recapture in a central Arkansas population of Opheodrys aestivus. Growth rate was a decreasing linear function of body size and differed according to sex. Females grew faster than males and reached a greater size. Mean body sizes of first year cohorts, size plots of known age snakes, and mean body sizes of the largest snakes were in agreement with size-age curves developed from growth rate equations. Males first bred in the spring at 21 mo of age. About half of the females first bred in the spring at 21 mo of age and half the following spring at 33 mo. Growth and age at maturity were similar to other colubrid and elapid species of similar size.