Diamond-back Water Snake

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Ranked #190 in Animals, #6,825 overall

Nerodia rhombifera

The Diamond-back (or backed) Water Snake is a long, heavy-bodied, tan to gray-brown snake with a pattern of dark brown to black chain-like markings. The belly is yellow, but with dusky brown markings. As the name implies it lives in slow moving waters and is found all over Louisiana. These beautiful snakes eat fish, frogs, and a few birds.

The Diamondback Water Snake

is a beautifully patterned non-poisonous snake. The almost triangular shape of it's head can be deceiving to the novice and it is often confused with water moccasins. It's round eyes, lack of pits above the eyes and long, thinner tail distinguish it from the venomous Cottonmouth Moccasin.

Diamondbacked Water Snakes in our Habitat 

Since our wildlife habitat is located along the Tchefuncte River, we often see many water snakes, but the largest and most interesting one that lives around the river is the Diamondback Water Snake. This snake can grow to 63 inches and we have several this size. They mate in the spring and have live young from early August to late October.

We have been lucky enough to photograph this attractive snake both in and out of the water. They like to bask in the sun on over hanging branches or cling to a submerged branch to lie in wait while hunting. Where we live, these skillful hunters eat primarily fish and we have observed one grab a 2 pound catfish and take it to the shore to eat it. The snake worked to try to swallow the fish for hours, until it finally gave up and tried for a perch.

Unfortunately, this beautiful, non-poisonous snake is sometimes killed because of its slightly triangular head, the untrained mistake it for the venomous Copperhead or Water Moccasin. The photos below (from "The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana" by Harold A. Dundee and Douglas A Rossman) show the difference between the heads of the snakes.



A. Diamond-backed water snake, Nerodia rhombifera
C. Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix
D. Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus

diamondback water snake copperhead & cotton mouth water moccasin

A Water Snake's Year 

A Water Snake's Year

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Diamond-back in Early Spring 

Water Snakes of North America 

Water Snakes of North America

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Sunning on a Cool Day 

Diamond-back Water Snake Sunning on a Log 

Since snakes are cold-blooded, they must take advantage of the sun to warm their bodies. That is why you will often see them stretched out on logs or curled in tree branches "sunning". We photographed this large Diamond-back Watersnake, near the Tchefuncte River, sunning on a tree that was downed during Hurricane Katrina.



Diamond-back Watersnake on Log postcard
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Snakes Duel 

What do you think about Water Snakes?

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Water Snakes are fascinating creatures!

rio1 says:

These are beautiful snakes and they get very large, but they are harmless.

KimGiancaterino says:

I prefer snakes to be in their natural habitats.

I try not to think about them.

 

Diamond-back Watersnake "Fishing" 

Some watersnakes hook their tails to a submerged branch and lie in wait for their prey. Here is a shot of a Diamond-back Water Snake "fishing" in the Tchefuncte River. We have observed Diamond-back's grabbing fish underwater many times. It looks strange, because, in most cases, you don't see the snake, you just see the fish as the snake whips it around in the water.

Fishing Photos - The Big One Got Away! 

Diamondback Water Snake Facts from Wiki 

The Diamondback Water Snake (Nerodia rhombifer) is a common species of water snake found throughout much of the central United States and northern Mexico. It is non-venomous and a member of the colubrid family. There are three recognized subspecies of N. rhombifer. The species was first described as Tropidonotus rhombifera by Edward Hallowell in 1852.

Snakes of the U.S. & Canada 

Snakes of the United States and Canada

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Water Snakes on Zazzle 

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Water Snake Tie tieDiamond-back Water Snake Mug mugDiamond-back Water Snake Tie tieWater Snake Sticker sticker

Diamond-back Water Snake and Turtles Photos 

Other Louisiana Snakes Lenses 

 

 

Snake Facts from Wiki 

Snakes are elongate legless carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with many more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. In order to accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca.

Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica and most islands. Fifteen families are currently recognized comprising 456 genera and over 2,900 species.Colubridae species list at the TIGR Reptile Database. Accessed 4 December 2008. They range in size from the tiny, 10 cm long thread snake to pythons and anacondas of up to in length. The recently discovered fossil Titanoboa was long. Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards during the Cretaceous period (c 150 Ma). The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene period (c 66 to 56 Ma).

Most species are non-venomous and those that have venom use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than self-defense. Some possess venom potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Those which are non-venomous either swallow prey alive or kill it via constriction.

Garter Snakes & Water Snakes Care 

Diamond-back Water Snake Underwater Vid 

This is a great video of a Diamond-back Water snake moving under water.
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Diamond-back Water Snake YouTube 


Diamondback Watersnake Eating Perch

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Our Blogs 

Nov 14, 2009 @ 2:48 pmBeautiful St. Tammany Parish from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Our nine acre National Wildlife certified backyard wildlife habitat is located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. When we bought our property before Hurricane...
Nov 13, 2009 @ 2:19 pmHoliday Giving - Donate to Animal Charities from Best of Naturally Native Squids
Where does the time go? I can't believe that 2009 is almost coming to an end and that the holidays are right around the corner. When one thinks about the holidays, one can't help but think about gif...
Oct 25, 2009 @ 9:40 amMushrooms Decorate the Forests in Fall from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Mushroom Amanita caesarea by tiger45Mushrooms abound in the forests during Autumn and it seems that more colorful ones appear in October and through early winter. The damp, cool weather of south Loui...
May 13, 2009 @ 4:21 pmProthonotary Warblers are Back from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Prothonotary Box Postcard by naturegirl7This is the first time that we have been able to monitor each of the boxes on our nest box trail since late April. Many Carolina Chickadees and some Carolina W...
Apr 22, 2009 @ 12:18 pmNest Box Trail Monitoring 4/21-22 from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Carolina Chickadee Postage by naturegirl7We try to check the nest boxes on our Cavity Nesting Trail about once a week, but because of "life", we are lucky to check them every 2 weeks. For more inform...
Apr 10, 2009 @ 11:30 amNest Box Trail Monitoring Results from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Bluebird Pair Postcard by naturegirl7We checked all of the nest boxes on our trail this morning. Despite the abnormal weather fluctuations, most of the nests were successful and there are a few new ne...
Apr 9, 2009 @ 8:02 pmSpring in Little Tchefuncte Habitat from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Black and White WarblerWe've been so busy with many conservation efforts, that I haven't had time to write anything for months. So.... this will probably be a long post.Our nest box trail is doing we...
Mar 29, 2009 @ 6:37 pmSpring Forth to Sustainability from Best of Naturally Native Squids
Spring has sprung and in our neck of the woods thoughts go to budding plants and new life. All the animals are preparing to procreate. There are many things that you can do as a homeowner to offer s...
Jan 25, 2009 @ 12:08 pmTree Planting for FNPS from Tchefuncte Hummingbird Hill Habitat Journal
Yesterday we hosted a tree planting meeting for the Folsom Native Plants Society. We potted 75 Crabapple, 50 Bald Cypress and 50 wild Plum trees. These trees will be given out to new members who sig...

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Lensmaster naturegirl7 has been a member since April 22 2008, has rated 498 lenses, favorited 443, and has created 147 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "7-up Cake Recipes". See all my lenses

Water Snake Blog Posts 

Floridana Alaskiana v2.5: vg005: diamondback watersnake
TrackBack. TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451652469e20120a64aa287970b. Listed below are links to weblogs that reference vg005: diamondback watersnake: ...
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It also climbs the branches to sleep on the overhanging branches over the water. It usually escapes when you frighten it and if you need a bite you can catch it! It is usually found in the southeastern US The Diamondback water snakes ...
How did a diamondback water sn…
How did a diamondback water snake find his way to our patio?

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My husband and I have always loved nature and the outdoors. We currently maintain a 9 acre private wildlife preserve.





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