Plain-bellied Water Snake
Nerodia erythrogaster
Plain-bellied Water Snake 2
The Plain-bellied Water Snake is one of the most common snake species at the Arboretum. Heavy-bodied and fairly large, these highly aquatic snakes are often mistaken for Cottonmouths ("water moccasins"). However, while water snakes will flatten their heads and bite aggressively if handled, they are not venomous. They are surprisingly graceful swimmers, keeping their bodies mostly submerged (Cottonmouths are clumsy swimmers and hold their bodies mostly out of the water). Plain-bellied Water Snakes are usually slate-gray to black above and yellowish below, sometimes with dark mottling or barring (the patterned morph is often called the "Blotched Water Snake" and has been considered a separate subspecies in the past). Look closely and you will see their scales are strongly ridged, giving them a rough texture. They eat aquatic prey like frogs and fish.
Sources and Credits
- (c) hancnaturalist, all rights reserved, uploaded by hancnaturalist
- Adapted by hancnaturalist from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerodia_erythrogaster
More Info
iNat Map
| Color | black, brown, gray, green, white, yellow |
|---|---|
| Pattern | bands, mottled |
| Texture | rough |
