Healthy Population of Banded Water Snakes

Our class took a field trip to Dungannon Heritage Preserve in the ACE Basin on 4-21-11. The habitat we investigated was made up of mostly old rice fields turned to swamp. Here we found a vast amount of southern cricket frogs (Acris gryllus) which varied in morphology greatly. We also found four banded water snakes (Nerodia fasciata) all but one were caught in minnow traps. The fourth was found slightly under a log on the outskirts of a swampy area. We knew they were Nerodia due to their keeled scales and dark, thick bodies. They have rounded pupils and fairly slender heads, so we knew they were not cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Furthermore, their bellies were brightly colored with red and yellow alternating marks and faint yellowish bands were on their sides. Two of the water snakes we found appeared to be adults because they were a few feet long. Both of these had tapering tails posterior to their anus, so we deduced that these were females. One of the smaller ones was very aggressive biting one student in the hand and arm many times. The snake that was found under the log flattened its head to make itself appear like a venomous species.

In the same area we caught two of the water snakes (on a dike next to where an old rice trunk appears to have been) I saw a black snake. I yelled, “snake snake”, in hopes Keith, our snake enthused lab TA would come assist. Eventually, with the help of another student we cornered the snake and Keith caught it. The snake turned out to be a black racer (Coluber constrictor). This snake, like one of the water snakes, was very aggressive biting him on the hand and fingers many times. We determined due to the thickness of the tail that this snake was most likely a male. It was several feet long with a very thin body, and probably an adult. It was all black with a dark grey belly and smooth scales. (Logan Bryan, SC)