Reptilia · Squamata
Psammophis phillipsiiHallowell, 1844
Olive Grass Racer
Identification not confirmed. One observer recorded this animal as this species and no one has since agreed, so the photograph may show a different animal.
Photograph by Tristan Jobin, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Afrotropic region, reaching 181 cm nose to tail.
Also called Phillips’ Sand Snake, Phillips’ Whip Snake.
Reptilia › Squamata › Psammophiidae › Psammophis
- Grows to
- 1810mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives up to
- 10.3years
Longer than 89% of all species in Psammophiidae anyone has measured.
The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 380 to 2,500 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.
What is known
35 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2014
The animal itself
- Limbs
- None
- Pupil
- Round
- Venomous
- Yes
- Fangs
- At the back of the mouth
- Longest recorded life
- 10.3years
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 30.2–30.4°C86–87 °F
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 1700mm5 ft 7 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 818mm2 ft 8 in
- Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- 1810mm5 ft 11 in
- Hatchling length · snout to vent
- 238.6mm9.5 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 1173.7g2.6 lb
1740 mm total length (Feldman et al. 2016), Pauwels et al. 2022 (1 female 330 mm SVL - juvenile?), Butler 1993 (Male SVL's x = 902 mm ± 28.9, range = 530- 1700, n = 49, female svls x = 760 mm ± 36.9, range = 530-1160, n = 30 mean of 10 hatchlings 240.2 mm ± 3.9 range 229-274). The smallest female with oviducal eggs was 650 mm SVL), Akani et al. 2002 (hatchling SVL: 23.7±. 1 cm, n= 1 8, and "Gravid snakes averaged 86.6±7.83 cm SVL (n=23), compared to 88.7± 1 4.62 cm SVL in non-gravid specimens (n=44) ."), Trape 2023 (80-181 cm)
snakes only in this source
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Carnivorous
- How it hunts
- Active foraging
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Arboreal, terrestrial
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
- Active season · months of the year
- 12months
- Region
- Afrotropic
- Mainland or island
- Mainland
- Elevation · above sea level
- 26–1507m
- Range size
- 2,644,012km²
a skink (Pauwels et al. 2022), "Lizards, snakes, and small mammals" (Butler 1993), lizards, amhibians, birds and rodents (Trape 2023)
Active (Glaudas et al. 2019)
"This diurnal species is broadly distributed in Africa." (Zassi-Boulou et al. 2020; Branch 1998) (recorded by Anuj Shinde), diurnal (Akani et al. 2002, Trape 2023)
"We vouchered nine P. phillipsii on trees, in grasses, on dead tree trunks, and in pools of water" (Zassi-Boulou et al. 2020)
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Average clutch
- 6eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 6–19eggs
- Mean clutch
- 9.2–10.7eggs
Chippaux and Jackson 2019
10 (Chippaux and Jackson 2019), 6-19, mean 10.7 (Butler 1993), 8-11, mean 9.2 (Akano et al. 2002)
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Serpentes
- Infraorder
- Alethinophidia
- Subspecies
- No
- Described by
- Hallowell
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1844
- Type locality
- Liberia
Keeping one
22 ft 4 in × 22 ft 4 in × 22 ft 4 in(680 × 680 × 680 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 and climbing species at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times snout-vent length.
Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 5 ft 7 in (1700 mm), at 4 × 4 × 4 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
No preferred body temperature has been recorded for Olive Grass Racer. Rather than repeat a number from a care sheet, this page leaves it out.
Feeding
A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.
Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.
105kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 1,174 g, the heaviest recorded for Olive Grass Racer — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest female · snout to vent
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Body mass · adult female, mean
- — Body mass at hatching
- — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
- — Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Clutches in a year
- — Clutches a year · fewest
- — Clutches a year · most
- — First breeds from · youngest recorded
- — First breeds by · oldest recorded
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Sex decided by
- — Population trend
- — Red List criteria
- — Density · lowest recorded
- — Density · highest recorded
- — Home range · largest recorded
- — Habitat
- — Active in
Others in Psammophiidae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Psammophis phillipsii. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/psammophis-phillipsii
@misc{psammophis_phillipsii_2026,
title = {Psammophis phillipsii},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/psammophis-phillipsii}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.