Banded Watersnake Story.

[Spurticus]

Just got back from Edisto Island. Nice place down there, and where we
usually stay, there's a man made lake / lagoon in the middle of the
resort and a creek that run around the golf course. There's usually a big
Aligator or two in there but for some reason it was no where to be seen
this year. I went out Wednesday morning to see if I could see it around
the lake and get some pictures of it. . . . About halfway around the
lake, I notice this little ripple near where I'm standing and after watching
the area for a few minutes I see this small snake swimming around near
the bank:

It kept swimming in and out of the weeds and cover near the bank and I
kept trying to get a close up shot of it to see what kind of snake it was.
After a few minutes it swam out of the weeds and made off for the other
side of the lake and went by me close enough to get a nice shot of it:

I followed it over to the opposite bank and snapped a couple more shots of
it before it ducked out of sight for good this time. . . . these pictures make
it look fairly large, but it was actually only about a foot long. I learned later
that it was a Banded Watersnake. Pretty common for the area and almost
all of SC.
Anyway, I go back out around the lake Friday morning to try to find the
Gator, and about 30 minutes into the search and opposite where I saw the
snake a couple of days earlier, I notice again, a little disturbance in the
leaves in the water near where I'm at. I see this little head sticking up
through these little green leafy things in the water and first thought is this
same snake. Nah ! . . can't be, gotta be a small turtle (they're all over the
place down there. I watch this thing for a few minutes and notice the tongue
flicker !!

Can't be the same snake though Right ? . . well, it stays there for
about 10 minutes and I'm about to walk off and the wind picks up and blows
the leaf covering toward the bank and this snake takes off for the other side
again:

I snapped a few more pictures and again this thing ducks out of sight and
I start walking around the bank and notice once again, this little ripple near
where I'm standing and this snake crawls up onto the bank about 10-12 ft.
from me, and starts crawling towards me . . almost like it's saying "Screw
you, I'm chasing you for a while" The snake crawls to within 3 feet of me,
and Stops ! I snap a couple more pictures of it:

Finally I go "OK, let's see how vicious you are, and attempt to pick it up. I
get my hand about 4" from it, and it takes off for the bank. This time it didn't
go in the water, but must have found a crevis or hole to crawl into, because
it disappeared. I decided to leave it in peace. . . . . Never saw the Gators
this year, but got some cool pics of a young Banded Watersnake.

 

[goldelx6]

NICE! awesome narrative btw. thanks for sharing!

 

[RavenSpirit360]

Very cool experience!!

 

[Asbit]

Very neat nice looking snake too!!!

 

[Nanci]

Nice pics! I have to get up there some day...

 

[Theo's Keeper]

That is the snake I probably see the most of in SC. Unfortunately they are often mistaken for copperheads or cottonmouths and killed. It's probably a good thing you didn't grab him though, I've never picked one up without getting both musked and bitten. Edisto is great isn't it? It's between there and Pawley's for my beach trip this year.

 

[Spurticus]

That is the snake I probably see the most of in SC. Unfortunately they are often mistaken for copperheads or cottonmouths and killed. It's probably a good thing you didn't grab him though, I've never picked one up without getting both musked and bitten. Edisto is great isn't it? It's between there and Pawley's for my beach trip this year.

I've never picked up or handled any water snakes, but have always been
told that most watersnakes are pretty aggressive and vicious. I been
told though since trying to find out more about these in the last week or
so, that this particular snake is not quite as vicious as red bellied, or
brown watersnakes. Even read that some are very calm and tame easily.
I told some guys on another board I post on about this little guy, and
I got a story from a guy who said one of these things followed him in his
boat for almost an hour one time while he was fishing. He said it would
swim away, then return in a few minutes and swim right up to his boat.

I found that interesting and when I thought about it, it was more like this
little guy was coming to me, instead of me just happening to stumble upon
where it was. I saw this same guy for two days, and I always noticed that
little ripple in the water right near where I was standing. It would swim
away and out of sight, and then a few minutes later, I'd see it swim out
near me again. Sort of like it was looking for me !
I was shocked when this thing crawled up onto the bank, then crawled up
to a few feet of where I was then just stopped. It stayed there for
about 3-4 minutes and then when I moved down to pick it up, it crawled
off quickly to the bank. Really cool experiance.

And yeah, We love Edisto a lot. Have been going down there for a week of
Vacation every year for the past 15 years. Always go the second week in
May. Just before the main season starts. It's very quiet and non commercial
and a good place to relax and unwind.

 

[wax32]

Nice pictures and story. Those green leaves are "Duckweed". Each little leaf it actually a whole plant, it has tiny roots suspended below it.

 

[Spurticus]

Nice pictures and story. Those green leaves are "Duckweed". Each little leaf it actually a whole plant, it has tiny roots suspended below it.

I was wondering what that stuff was. Didn't see any weeds or flowers around
the bank at all, with leaves like that to blow off of and fall in the water. Most
all of the tree around there are Palms or Oaks so I know they didn't come
from those, yet they were all around the lake next to the bank. I know
when the snake got ready to "run" it he was crawling through them and
it almost looked like some kind of substrait. (more solid rather than just
floating around in the water).