Water Snake, Northern

Latin name

Nerodia sipedon sipedon

 

Fast facts

  • Adult body length: 24 - 42 inches, record 55 inches
  • Length at birth: 6½ - 12"
  • Breeding period: April - June
  • Young per year: 8 - 99 live young; 15 - 30 average
  • Typical foods: Frogs, small fish, salamanders, small turtles, crustaceans, and small mammals
  • This snake is NOT venomous. Still, it often is mistaken for the very dangerous, very venomous Water Moccasin, which is not native to Ohio.
  • Saliva produced by the Northern Water Snake contains a substance that inhibits the coagulation of blood. Therefore, a bite from this snake may cause profuse bleeding.

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    Appearance

    The Northern Water Snake is a stout-bodied snake with highly variable coloration. Its basic color is reddish-brown, brown, gray or black. Usually there are dark cross bands on the neck just behind the head. Sometimes these bands continue down the back, but more often they are broken into blotches that alternate between the back and sides. With age, an individual becomes almost completely black. The undersurface is white, yellowish or gray with dark spots.

    Range

    Overall Range
    Quebec and Maine south to North Carolina, and west through Ontario to Minnesota, eastern Colorado and Tennessee.

    Range in Ohio
    This is one of the most abundant snakes in Ohio and lives in every county. Reportedly living in every permanent body of water, it probably is absent only from badly polluted water. 

    Map of where this snake lives in Ohio

    Local Habitat
    Lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes, streams, and rivers.

    Lifestyle

    The Northern Water Snake is mainly active during the day, although it sometimes will hunt for food at night. It favors basking on rocks, logs, stumps or other objects next to water, and it often lies in low branches that overhand water. When threatened or startled it drops into the water and swims away from the threat. This snake is far from timid and bites readily and vigorously, both under water and above water.