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 There are a number of types of water snakes in America's WETLAND. Those named “water snakes” eat mostly fish, frogs, tadpoles, and the like. They typically feed at night and lounge about on limbs during the day. All give live birth to their young, with 5 ft. long Diamondback Water Snakes having as many as 75 babies. All are nasty tempered and bite vigorously while spewing the contents of their anal sacs and bowels all over you. None are venomous. All have a rough appearance due to having a keel down the middle of each scale, and the heads are much larger than the neck.
Diamondback Water Snake - Nerodia rhombifer - These snakes get up to five feet long. They are light brown with dark squares along the back and black bars down the sides between the dark squares, giving a diamond pattern.
Broad-banded Water Snake - Nerodia fasciata confluens - This is a dark snake, rarely reaching three feet in length. The have pale bands around the body and the belly has red blotches. Occasional specimens may have brown replacing the black on the back.
Salt Marsh Water Snake - Nerodia clarki - This is a very dark snake with yellowish stripes (no blotches). The belly has two rows of red spots running the entire length. It is more frequently found in salt water, but is known to venture inland.
Yellowbelly Water Snake - Nerodia erythrogaster flavigaster - This is a olive-drab snake above (sometimes with blotches down the mid-line) and yellowish-cream belly with no pattern. They are the most land loving of the water snakes, and often are found on land sunning and will sometimes leave the water for land to escape capture.
Green Water Snake - Nerodia cyclopion - The pattern on these snakes is a greenish color with irregular patterns of dark along the back. It is very difficult to describe, but easy to recognize once you’ve seen it. They are the only water snake to have a row of scales between the eye and the scales on the upper lip. All other water snakes have the eye in contact with the scales on the upper lip.
Crawfish Snakes
These snakes live among the water snakes, often sunning on limbs with them. However, they are most active during the day. Both have small heads that are hardly larger than the neck and they feed exclusively on softshell crawfish.
Graham’s Crawfish Snake - Regina grahamii - These snakes are rich brown above, often with some striping being present (shades of brown). The belly has a central row of spots on a cream color.
Glossy Crawfish Snake - Regina rigida - A very dark, shiny back with two rows of wide dark spots down the pale belly. Solid black examples of this species are common in eastern New Orleans
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