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What snake is this?

NonVenomous

NonVenomous

Bronny
Hey all! *waves* (I missed ya! lol)

My Dad lives in North Carolina in the middle of no where and he goes on daily hikes with his two Australian Shepard Dogs. They are almost always off leash as they are very obedient, but because of this I constantly get these phone pictures accompanied by panicked emails "What is this snake? Is it venomous?"

So sorry for the horrible phone picture, but any guesses what this is? I'm going with Eastern Milksnake but he/she's kinda plump and in deep shed/ so I'm not 100% sure. Thoughts?

whatisthissnake-vi.jpg


Thanks!
 
Not a water snake look closely at its head..the eyes are not protruding as if its a water snake.
Its a colubrid but not sure what species yet.
 
No, it is a watersnake, Northern watersnake eyes don't do the buggy thing like brown waters, plus the scales are keeled, the bands on its sides alternate further down the body, and I have been catching them for 4 years here in Raleigh, Nc as they are the easiest snake to find.
 
Snakewhisperer said:
No, it is a watersnake, Northern watersnake eyes don't do the buggy thing like brown waters, plus the scales are keeled, the bands on its sides alternate further down the body, and I have been catching them for 4 years here in Raleigh, Nc as they are the easiest snake to find.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree with your assetment of Northern's I kept them here for years. I personally like these angry snakes.

But again, press control and hit your scrollbar to enlarge the window. This is not a Northern. The patterns are all wrong and so is the head shape.
A muddy Northern
Watersnake3.jpg
 
the second one was a fasciata x sipedon. I just went out and caught one today at one of the normal spots, and I can pick them out from pretty far away. he said he was in NC, so it is either Nerodia sipedon, fasciata, taxispilota, or erythrogaster. it is not the latter 2 as they are quite distinct, and the bands alternate so it isn't fasciata.
 
tricksterpup said:
yep and those bands are totally off and so is the head shape.

The snake is more red from the op picture. The bands are more milk snakeish, mole king or rat snake.
Click to expand...

Dude, seriously, I spend so much time working with these guys, I have taught how to identify them, and do not make me start pulling up my hundreds of sipedon photos. As for coloration, the first one i posted was brown on brown, and I also have some pics of bluegray on gray, red on grey, red on brown, coloration is not a good thing to base identification on. It is definitely a Northen Water Snake.
 
I agree, first thought was northern water snake. I had them in my lake out back and have done research on them.
 
I know nothing about water snakes. Are they usually so fat? My first thought looking at the picture was that the snake was sick because it was so fat.
 
Davidmaster hit it on the first answer. In VA we have Nerodia sipedon with different colors and patterns. I didn't get the whole snake in these pics, but you can see how some of the adults have no pattern to ID.

NSgray.JPG

NSgray1.JPG
 
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