Snake Identification
Posted by Brian Davis on June 21, 2008
Q: Can you identify the small snake found in our backyard next to our pond?
State: Ohio
Habitat: field/meadow
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A: Thanks for your helpful photo. Your snake is a young Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon). Young water snakes look very different from adults - as they age they lose most of their banding and become rather dark and look almost solid in color. These snakes are very common around water, as their name implies, and are also quite common in Ohio. As a boy in west-central Ohio, I caught hundreds of young water snakes at my local creek. The Northern Water Snake is a very good swimmer and feeds on a variety of animals including frogs, salamanders, crayfish and fish. These animals do not make good pets since they don't seem to tame down even after a long time in captivity. Adult water snakes get rather large (up to 100cm or 42 inches) and are often feared as poisonous but although they readily bite when captured, are not dangerous. Hope this helps.
John Wiessinger ( June 22, 2008)