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
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.
Snakes Duel
What do you think about Water Snakes?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byWater Snakes are fascinating creatures!
rio1 says:
These are beautiful snakes and they get very large, but they are harmless.
Posted January 23, 2009
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!
Diamond-back hooked its tail around a branch & is very still with its nostrils out of the water.
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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Diamond-back Water Snake and Turtles Photos
Out from behind a log, the giant Diamond-back water snake sticks its head up.
Other Louisiana Snakes Lenses
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Black Racer Snake
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Black Racers are very fast black snakes with a bluish cast to their scales. Other names for this handsome, non-venomous snake are Blue Racer, Blue Runner and Black Runner. The Southern Black Racer occurs in habitats all over Louisiana and through mo...
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Cottonmouth Moccasin Snake
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The Cottonmouth (which used to be called Cottonmouth Moccasin or Water Moccasin) is a venomous semi-aquatic snake. It is one of the five species of pit viper that inhabits Louisiana. It is also the only semi-aquatic viper in the world. The name, Cott...
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Kingsnakes of Louisiana
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Since we were children we have welcomed the gentle, non-poisonous Kingsnakes into our yard. Kingsnakes are constrictors that live in many types of habitat, but seem to prefer ridges and levees that border wet areas. They will kill and eat poisonous...
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Snakes of Louisiana
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Snakes are probably one of the most controversial animals. You either love them or hate them. Snakes are a very important link in the food chain and without them our earth would be overrun with vermin and harmful insects. Here in Louisiana there are...
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Ribbon and Garter Snakes
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Garter and Ribbon snakes are beneficial, non-poisonous snakes. Garter Snakes are welcomed into gardens because they eat small rodents, snails, slugs and harmful insects among other things. There are several different species that inhabit Louisiana. M...
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Ring-necked Snake of Louisiana
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The Ring-necked Snake is a small, harmless snake that lives in forested areas all over the Southeastern United States. It spends most of the daylight hours hiding under logs, but is active at night during the warm months of the year. Ring-necked Sna...
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Broad-banded Watersnake of Louisiana
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The Broad-banded is the only species of Banded Water snake that lives in Louisiana. They are found in bodies of water all over Louisiana and the Southeastern United States. Unfortunately, these stout non-poisonous water snakes with colorful bellies,...
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Rat Snakes in Louisiana
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Rat Snakes are attractively marked, non-poisonous constrictors which primarily eat rats and mice and some birds and eggs. They are known for their climbing ability and their great length which can be up to 101 inches. In the south they are called Ch...
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Hognose Snake in Louisiana
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The Eastern Hognose Snake is a most unusual reptile with some very unique defense mechanisms, including puffing up like a cobra and playing dead. Although it is considered non-poisonous, in that it does not have fangs, it's saliva sometimes causes a...
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Yellow-bellied Water Snakes
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Plain-bellied Water snakes are found in every southeastern state in the U.S. They are stout snakes with dark brown, gray or greenish gray backs and bellies that range in color from yellow to red. In Louisiana, the Yellow-bellied and blotched water s...
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Rough Green Snake
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The Rough Green Snake is the only type of Green Snake that inhabits Louisiana. It is a slim, medium sized, non-poisonous snake, which is bright green in color. Rough Green snakes are egg layers and are excellent climbers.
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
The General Care And Maintenance Of Garter Snakes And Water Snakes (The Herpetocultural Library. Series 200)
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Diamond-back Water Snake Underwater Vid
Water Snakes on Amazon
Our Blogs
- 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...
- Jan 21, 2009 @ 4:40 pmCreating Backyard Bird Habitats from Best of Naturally Native Squids
- As we look out on an unseasonably cold winter day and see over one hundred American Goldfinches, two to three dozen Northern Cardinals and an assortment of Chipping Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows,...
- Jan 10, 2009 @ 12:33 pm2009 Green Living Gardening Trends from Best of Naturally Native Squids
- In post Katrina South Louisiana, the trends for 2009 lean towards edible gardens, vertical gardens, rain gardens and native plants, to name a few. How land is used, especially in the cities and suburb...
- Jan 3, 2009 @ 2:34 pmEarth Day Should Be Every Day from Best of Naturally Native Squids
- As we begin the new year with the words, "Yes, We Can!" fresh in our minds, there is also hope that this new administration will say "Yes, We Can!" for the environment.It is with this thought that we...
Slip in a comment.
naturegirl7 wrote...
in reply to inkserotica Thank you so much for the love and the blessing! As to why they are mistaken for the poisonous ones, I think with some people it's a question of kill first and identify later.
Posted October 22, 2009
inkserotica wrote...
I'm fascinated by snakes of any kind. In a way I can see the similarities between it and the more venomous snakes but not why they're mistaken. Consider yourself loved and blessed by a passing Angel :)
Posted October 22, 2009
naturegirl7 wrote...
in reply to Artemus-Gordon Diamond-back WATERSNAKES are NON-poisonous snakes unlike the Diamond-backed Rattlesnake (which you are probably thinking of) and the other 2 vipers that you mentioned.
Posted September 09, 2009
Artemus-Gordon wrote...
My property is just loaded with cooperheads and I have seen a few cottonmouths around here as well. So far there is no sighting of a diamondback.
Posted September 09, 2009
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: ...
- Snakes and More Snakes: Diamondback Water Snake Nerodia rhombifer ...
- The Diamondback Water Snake Nerodia rhombifer, can reach about 5 feet in length as an adult. They are brownish gray in color, with evenly connected blotches running the length of the body. Their diet consists mostly of fish and frogs. ...
- dan coulter.com » How did a diamondback water sn…
- How did a diamondback water sn? How did a diamondback water snake find his way to our patio? This entry was written by Dan, posted on October 24, 2009 at 5:06 pm , filed under Tweets and tagged Tweets, twitter. Bookmark the permalink. ...
- Diamondback Water Snake, Kansas on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- Diamondback Water Snake Nerodia rhombifer near Eureka, Kansas; Eureka County taken 18 May 2009 about 9:04pm side of road after sunset juvenile, about 16 inches This is first time that I've photographed this species. 096a08.
Links to More Snakes
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