‹ Compare two snakes
Timber Rattlesnake vs Northern Watersnake
Tap a part to see it on both. Tap it again to turn it off.
(c) Evan M. Raskin, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Timber Rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
VenomousMartyn Drabik-Hamshare, no rights reserved
Northern Watersnake
Nerodia sipedon
Non-venomousThe quick way to tell
Check the tail. The Timber Rattlesnake's tail is usually solid velvety black, ending in a rattle, and its back has dark V-shaped chevrons. The Northern Watersnake's tail is patterned and tapers to a point.
Tail ★ This settles it
Solid black ahead of the rattle.
Tapers evenly; no rattle.
Head
Heavy triangular head, much wider than the neck, usually with no bold cheek stripe.
Narrow head barely wider than the neck; flattens when threatened.
Pattern
Dark chevrons - V shapes pointing forward - and often a rusty spine stripe.
Crossbands up front breaking into blotches toward the tail; reddish half-moons on the belly.
Eyes
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Round pupil, eyes set high on the head; no heat-sensing pit.
Pits
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
None. There is no pit between the eye and the nostril.
What it does
Very reluctant; usually lies still or rattles long before striking.
Basks on docks and banks; drops into water, bites hard if grabbed.
Where it lives
Eastern US from New Hampshire and New York south to northern Florida, west to Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and east Texas.
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.