Smooth snake
Coronella austriaca
A harmless, smooth-scaled snake of Georgia — secretive and often mistaken for a viper.
Overview
What is Smooth snake
The smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) is a harmless snake found across Georgia — smooth-scaled, round-pupilled, and often mistaken for a viper. The 2026 Georgian checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. It belongs to the colubrid family and has no venom. The range runs from Europe to western Asia, including the Caucasus. The Georgian name refers to coppery or reddish colour; the English name refers to the unkeeled scales. Georgian sources treat it as a small snake, usually under 50 cm and at most about 70 cm. It is Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List.
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Identification
How to identify Smooth snake
A harmless colubrid often mistaken for a viper by colour. Check scales, pupil and head pattern first — not colour alone. Do not pick it up to count scales.
- 01
Dorsal scales are smooth, without a keel. Viper dorsal scales are keeled — a raised ridge down the centre. The head is narrow and less set off from the neck than in a viper.
- 02
The pupil is round. Georgian vipers have a vertical slit pupil. A dark stripe often runs from the eye toward the neck. The crown of the head often has a dark crown- or heart-shaped mark; the genus name Coronella means “little crown”.
- 03
Ground colour is copper, brown or grey. The back usually has two rows of small dark spots, not a single unbroken zigzag. The belly is often dark grey or reddish with mottling. Juveniles are more contrasty. Georgian sources treat adults as usually under 50 cm, at most about 70 cm; European guides rarely mention 80 cm — that is not treated here as typical for Georgia.
- 04
The Caucasus viper has keeled scales, a vertical pupil and often a brick-red body; it is a humid western species. Dinnik’s viper is a Greater Caucasus highland snake without a horn. The nose-horned viper has a true nose horn and is tied to dry Lesser Caucasus rock. Darevsky’s viper is smaller and tied to the Javakheti–Erusheti highlands. The grass snake often has a yellow collar and stays near water.
- 05
It is not venomous. If you meet one, keep your distance. Confusion with vipers is easy — so do not pick up an unidentified snake.
Quiz
Next: which snake is it?
Smooth snake is in the Georgia snake quiz. Ten field photos, four names — eye practice, not field ID.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
A 2021 study of snakes in Georgia lists the smooth snake as widespread through the country, together with the grass snake and the dice snake. The same paper also groups it with species of relatively humid climate (with the Caucasus viper and the Aesculapian snake), not with the semi-arid south-east specialists such as the Levantine viper. This atlas maps all 12 regions. Distribution confidence in the checklist is medium: a broad range is supported, but local density is uneven, and the species is easy to miss because it stays hidden. Look for it at forest edges, in open woodland, scrub, rocky slopes and foothills — often under sun-warmed stones and logs. It avoids marshes and open wet lowlands. In Europe it is also recorded in high mountains; a precise elevation limit for Georgia is not established on this page. A named field locality is the Borjomi–Bakuriani foothills; that is a single observation, not a range boundary.
Diet
It takes mainly lizards; in small individuals that is the main prey, and adults also eat small mammals. Other small snakes, including vipers, are taken occasionally. It coils around larger prey to hold it — not as a large constrictor that suffocates prey, but to pin and swallow it. There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page; this is species-level evidence.
Behavior
It is secretive. Most Georgian snakes are active by day — early morning and before sunset; this species is not listed as nocturnal. It often stays under stones and basks for short periods. When threatened it flattens its head so it looks more like a viper; it may hiss and bite if handled. It does not hunt people. Do not pick it up — it is harmless, but handling wild snakes is unnecessary risk and harms the animal. It is ovoviviparous: eggs develop inside the female and the young are born live, usually 2–15. Litter size has not been measured in a separate Georgian study. It overwinters in burrows and in gaps under stones and rock. Warm-season timing in Georgia is not published separately in the sources used here.
Conservation
The 2017 IUCN assessment lists it as Least Concern. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List, which does include Dinnik’s viper and the Caucasus viper. In Europe it is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive; the Habitats Directive is not Georgian law. Local threats are habitat conversion and killing after confusion with vipers. As a predator of lizards and small mammals it belongs in local food webs.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Smooth snake.
Yes. The 2026 checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. A 2021 study lists it as widespread through Georgia.
At forest edges, in open woodland, scrub and rocky foothills — often under sun-warmed stones. The map marks all 12 regions. It is tied more to humid and montane landscapes than to the semi-arid south-east lowlands.
It has no venom and is not dangerous to people. It may bite if handled — that is not a medical emergency. Do not pick it up: it is easily confused with vipers.
The smooth snake has smooth scales, a round pupil and no horn; the back has two rows of small spots. A viper has keeled scales, a vertical pupil and often a zigzag. Do not pick it up to check.
Georgian sources treat it as usually under 50 cm, at most about 70 cm. European guides rarely describe longer individuals; that is not treated here as typical for Georgia.
Mainly lizards; also small mammals and occasionally other small snakes. There is no separate Georgian diet study.
It is ovoviviparous — young are born live, usually 2–15. Georgian litter size has not been measured separately.
Keep your distance and give it a way out. Do not kill it or pick it up. An unidentified snake may be a viper.
- Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 — Annotated checklist of Georgia's amphibians and reptiles
- Iankoshvili & Tarkhnishvili 2021 — Distribution of snakes in Georgia
- Crnobrnja-Isailović et al. 2017 — IUCN Red List account for Coronella austriaca
- The Reptile Database
- Reading & Jofré 2013 — Diet composition of Coronella austriaca
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Related guides
