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With Christmas over, and we’re now in the time where we’re waiting for New Years, we’re finishing off our Christmas trio of articles with some gorgeously green reptiles. If you haven’t seen our first half of the christmas colours red and green you can check out some ridiculously red reptiles here! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or if the holidays are rough for you – congratulations on making it through them!). So let’s get started, scroll down to look at (and read about!) some gorgeously green reptiles!
Top 10 List – Green Reptiles
1. Yellow-blotched Palm Pit Viper
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Scientific Name: Bothriechis aurifer
Geographic Range: Mexico and Guatemala
Lifespan: 14 years
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
The beautiful yellow-blotched palm pit viper has a green base colour, with yellow blotches that are surrounded in black scales. They have a often lighter yellowish green colour to their belly, and a dark stripe running from behind their eye. Their eyes are usually a yellow-green colour however they are occasionally bronze with black specks. These stunning colours help the viper blend into the surroundings of their habitat.
As with all vipers, they are a venomous snake. They can be found mainly inhabiting the lower montane cloud forest, however they have also been recorded in subtropical wet forests. They are classified as vulnerable, with population decline thought to be due to habitat degradation and collection for the pet trade.
2. Green Tree Skink
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Scientific Name: Lamprolepis smaragdina
Geographic Range: Philippines, New Guinea as well as the Indo-Australian archipelago and down south to the Solomon and Santa Cruz islands.
Lifespan: 7 – 12 Years
Conservation Status: Not Listed
The Green Tree Skink is named due to it’s bright green colouration. They are not commonly seen out in the wild, however, they are becoming more and more popular in the exotic pet trade. It is mainly a carnivorous skink, feeding on insects and other small creatures found in their habitats. Occasionally they have been found to eat fruit and leafy plants they happen upon, and in some areas, they have been seen stealing dog food.
As the name suggests they spend a lot of time in the trees, and are an extremely active skink. They seem to always be on the move and if picked up they tend to be squirmish. However, while they may squirm they are an unaggressive species, and can sometimes be found in little groups, ganging up on larger prey together.
3. Green Tree Monitor
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Scientific Name: Varanus prasinus
Geographic Range: New Guinea and the northern Torres Strait Islands.
Lifespan: 15 – 20 years
Conservation Status: Least Concern
The green (or emerald) tree monitor is a monitor lizard on the smaller to medium size. They are known for their unusual coloration for monitor lizards – they can range from a beautiful bright green to a turquoise colour, with darker banding on top. They spend a lot of time in the trees, and this coloration helps them blend in with the leaves. Their beautiful colouration also makes them popular in the pet trade, and popular attractions at zoos.
Their main diet consists of large tree-dwelling arthropods such as: katydids, cockroaches, beetles, stick insects, spiders, centipedes, birds, crabs, and even some small mammals. In order to help them swallow their prey, they can often be seen tearing the limbs of their prey off before they eat it, allowing it to swallow bigger prey with more ease.
4. Green Tree Python
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Scientific Name: Morelia viridis
Geographic Range:New Guinea, its offshore islands, and in eastern Indonesia
Lifespan: 20 Years
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Green Tree Pythons are names so for a reason – not only are they a beautiful bright green colour, they also spend much of their time in the trees. They can reach about 6.5 feet in length, with the females tending to be slightly larger and heavier than males. They have become a popular pet due to their beautiful appearance, which has caused a concerning amount of smuggling and collection for importation to the pet trade.
Green tree pythons are known for the way they often rest in the tree branches – they loop their body over the branch they are resting on one to two times, resting their head in the middle. This is something that the emerald Tree Boa does, and with their similar appearance, the two are often confused with each other.
5. Madagascar Giant Day Gecko
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Scientific Name: Phelsuma grandis
Geographic Range: Madagascar, with introduced populations in florida and Hawaii
Lifespan: Records of up to 20 Years (6 – 8 is More Common)
Conservation Status: Least Concern
The Madagascar Giant Day Gecko is a diurnal lizard that spends most of its day up in the trees. They are part of the Phelsuma group, which is made up of over 70 different species/subspecies! These giant day geckos feed mainly on different invertebrates, small vertebrates, and nectars available in their habitat. They are native to (not surprisingly) Madagascar, and can be found in the various tropical and subtropical forests of the area.
The Madagascar Giant Geckos can reach a total length of 12 inches, and their body is most often a bright green – however rarely it can be a blue-green. From their nostril to their eye is always a bright red stripe, and often they have red dots or small stripes across their back. Their belly colour can range from a creamy white to various shades of yellow. When stressed, they can turn darker in colour, making them more of a dark green than a bright green.
6. Jewelled Gecko
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Scientific Name: Naultinus gemmeus
Geographic Range: South Island of New Zealand
Lifespan: Thought to be 16-30+ years, numbers are unknown.
Conservation Status:Near Threatened
Read Our Article On Them: Here
Jewelled geckos are diurnal geckos that are mainly a bright green to olive colour. They will either have rows of stripes running down their back, or a beautiful diamond pattern that inspired their common name. The striped/diamonds can be a pale green, white, or various shades of yellow, and are generally outlined in a black or dark brown colour. Their underbelly is a pale greenish yellow or grey, and may have striped or streaks running through it.
They are omnivorous feeding both on various insects in their habitat and on the berries from the Coprosma plant. Jewelled Geckos are viviparous, meaning that instead of laying eggs like most geckos, they give birth to live young. Jewelled Geckos reproduce annually. Pregnancy lasts for around 7 to 8 months, and the mother will give birth to one to two babies sometime in the Autumn.
7. Asian Vine Snake
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Scientific Name: Ahaetulla prasina
Geographic Range: Southeast Asia to Indo-China
Lifespan: 10 – 15 Years
Conservation Status: Least Concern
See More Unique Snakes: Here
The Asian Vine Snake (also known as the Oriental Whipsnake) is a unique looking Asian snake that can grow to about 6 feet in length. Their body is extremely slender for a snake, with a long, pointy projecting snout. While they can be a duller brown or yellow-green, often they are an almost fluorescent green in colour, and their eyes have a unique horizontal slit.
The vine snake has a wide habitat range in Asia, where it can be found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia,Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This bright green snake feeds on small reptiles and amphibians, particularly lizards and tree frogs. Feeding small fish has also been described in captivity, in which their popularity as pets has grown.
8. Plumed Basilisk
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Scientific Name: Basiliscus plumifrons
Geographic Range: Eastern Honduras to western Panama, as well as the Pacific versant in southwestern Costa Rica and adjacent Panama
Lifespan: 10 years
Conservation Status:Least concern
Read Our Article On Them: Here
Adult Plumed Basilisks are a beautiful bright green, with bright yellow eyes. They have light blue-ish or sometimes yellow dots that run down the sides of their bodies. Males have three crests which include the one on their head, one on their back, and one on their tail. Females just have one: the head crest.
Plumed basilisks, along with other basilisks, are able to use their feet and tail to run short distances on top of the water. Among locals, this unique ability of the plumed basilisk has earned the lizard the nickname the “Jesus Christ Lizard”. These lizards are also omnivores, which means they have quite a varied diet. These basilisks eat the insects, small mammals, smaller species of lizards, fruits and even flowers that are found in their natural habitat.
9. Parson’s Chameleon
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Scientific Name: Calumma parsonii
Geographic Range: Madagascar
Lifespan: Average 8 – 9 Years
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
The Parson’s Chameleon is one of the larger chameleons, and can only be found in isolated pockets of pockets in eastern and northern Madagascar. As with most Chameleons from Madagascar, it is illegal to export them from their natural habitat. They are an omnivorous chameleon, however their main diet does consist on various insects. One of the main appeals for this chameleon is that they have one of the longest lifespans as far as chameleons go. The average range for them is 8 – 12 years, with some animals getting as old as 14. This is a stark contrast compared to the average lifespan of other chameleons, which can range from 2, 3, or 5 years only.
Parson’s Chameleons are considered the largest chameleons in terms of weight, being beaten out for length by the Malagasy Giant Chameleon. Male Parson’s chameleons have to ridges that run from their nose to their eye, forming two warty looking horns. There are many different colour combinations for the male chameleons, with colours ranging from various greens, yellows, and turquoises. Females tend to be smaller than the males and are overall a green, yellow, or brown colour, and often have an orange tinge to them.
10. Hump-nosed Lizard
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Scientific Name: Lyriocephalus scutatus
Geographic Range: Sri Lanka
Lifespan: Not Listed
Conservation Status: Near Threatened
Our last of the green reptiles (however certainly not least!) is the Hump-Nosed Lizard. They are a species of lizard within the agamid family, and are the only species in the genus Lyriocephalus. The Hump-nosed lizard is the largest agamid endemic to Sri Lanka. They can often be found in dense wet forests, wet lowlands and mid hills.
As their name suggests, these lizards have a hump shaped nosed, and they also have a crest at the top of their head and spines that run down their back. They are a bright green colour, with a yellow throat, and as shown in the picture above – can have a blue belly. They are definitely one of the more unique animals on this list!
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