‹ Compare two snakes
Banded Watersnake vs Brown Watersnake
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(c) Alan Prather, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Banded Watersnake
Nerodia fasciata
Non-venomous(c) Leila Dasher, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Brown Watersnake
Nerodia taxispilota
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Look at the back and face. The Banded Watersnake has crossbands running over the back and a dark stripe from eye to jaw. The Brown Watersnake has square blotches in a checkerboard and no face stripe.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Dark crossbands widest across the back; belly has dark square marks.
Big squarish blotches alternating with side blotches - a checkerboard, not bands.
Head
Narrow head that flattens when alarmed; a dark stripe often runs from eye to jaw.
Head clearly wider than the neck, but no eye mask and no pale snout.
Eyes
Round pupil, eyes set high on the head; no heat-sensing pit.
Round pupil, eyes set high on the head; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Tapers evenly; no rattle.
Tapers evenly; no rattle, no markings.
What it does
Flattens its head and may strike if cornered; flees to water first.
Drops from branches into the water and swims away.
Where it lives
Southeast coastal plain from North Carolina through Florida, west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma, and up the Mississippi valley to southern Illinois; introduced in California.
Southeast coastal plain and Piedmont: southeastern Virginia through all of Florida, west into Alabama.