‹ Compare two snakes
Banded Watersnake vs Northern Watersnake
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(c) Alan Prather, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Banded Watersnake
Nerodia fasciata
Non-venomousMartyn Drabik-Hamshare, no rights reserved
Northern Watersnake
Nerodia sipedon
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Follow the bands down the body. The Banded Watersnake's crossbands stay whole to the tail, and it usually has a dark stripe from eye to jaw. The Northern Watersnake's bands break into alternating blotches by mid-body.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Dark crossbands widest across the back; belly has dark square marks.
Crossbands up front breaking into blotches toward the tail; reddish half-moons on the belly.
Head
Narrow head that flattens when alarmed; a dark stripe often runs from eye to jaw.
Narrow head barely wider than the neck; flattens when threatened.
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.
What it does
Flattens its head and may strike if cornered; flees to water first.
Basks on docks and banks; drops into water, bites hard if grabbed.
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.
Eastern and central US from Maine and Ontario south to the Carolinas and the Gulf states (just into the Florida panhandle), west to Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma; introduced in California.