Banded Water Snake: The scary looking snake with a heart of...fish...maybe frogs?

On our most recent field trip we trekked the wilds of Dixie Plantation in search of herps. In the second area we explored a swampy area where professor Welch and Kristen had previously set up some amphibian traps. While collecting the traps Ms. Laura Brautigam spotted a snake in the water, far enough out of reach that it was unlikely that we could get hold of it. I however ignored this doubt and moved forward into the swamp. I was able to get close and eventually grabbed it. This is likely, as I discovered, that it was getting ready to shed. After grabbing it it promptly bit me twice, luckily I had already determined that it was a non-venomous water snake. I brought it back and we id'd it as a banded water snake, Nerodia fasciata. The specimen was about 3 feet long and was in the water watching us, as well as it could, while we were collecting the traps. The species is not sexually dimorphic so we could not determine the sex of this pretty snake. It was fairly active, as it has been warm recently, and swamp further from me several times before I caught it. I was only able to finally catch it because I was very patient and took my time getting close enough, slowly enough that it didn't notice with its reduced vision.

As you can see in the picture above it's eyes are a bluish color indicating that it will likely be shedding soon and is likely the reason that I was able to get close enough to catch him.

This picture shows the banding on his belly and a small injury of some sort that seems to have healed already.

And finally a picture from above showing its rounded head and how I knew that it was non-venomous and how I am not dead right now.

The Banded Water snake , Nerodia fasciata, is one of the snakes that is most often mistaken for Cottonmouths, Agkistrodon piscivorous, along with many of the other members of Nerodia. The banded water snake has little to no patterning on its back, while the cottonmouth usually does. The cottonmouth also has a triangular shaped head, while water snakes do not. Though sometimes water snakes can flatten their heads while on land to mimic cottonmouths and other venomous snakes. It can be quite difficult under some circumstances to correctly determine which is which for these snakes so be careful...like I wasn't. Do as I say not as I do.