Banded Water snake

Febuary 27^th- Dixie plantation

            This Organism was found in the swamplands of Dixie Plantation in South Carolina. It has been identified as a member of the North American Water snake taxon, Genus Nerodia. More specifically the snake was identified as a Southern banded water snake, Nerodia fasciata fasciata, for a few different reasons. We were able to identify it as a southern water snake compared to other water snakes due to its dark marking from its eye to jaw, which is visible in the photo of its head. Additionally, the snakes banding pattern fit that of the banded water snake, which has narrower bands of coloration compared to its broad banded counter part. The square-ish spots along the sides of its belly are also characteristic of this species. Furthermore, the banded water snake is the only southern water snakes found within South Carolina. This species has a divided cloaca and happens to bare live young.

            As these snakes become more mature their cross band coloration begin to darken until they are almost all black. From this information, I would predict this snake found is a juvenile as its coloration was quite prominent with cross bands distinct from one another. It appeared to be about 1 foot long which also makes me believe it is a juvenile as they can grow up to 44 inches as adults.

Upon finding this snake a eager classmate of mine lunged to pick it up which prompted our instructor to yelp “Wait tell me if its dangerous or not before you touch it” (clearly it wasn’t her first rodeo dealing with potential hazards in the field)! This was a good prompt for discussion about this snake in particular as the Water snake is often mistaken for a similar looking poisonous species: the Cotton Mouth Snake. We were able to safely identify this animal as a harmless water snake through various characteristics such as the lack of a diamond shaped head, its longer slender body, and slender head. Also an interesting note is that when it felt threatened after we had picked it up it began to flatten its body and head to appear to look like a more poisonous snake!