Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i live in kentucky and spent the weekend in the Red River Gorge, which is part of the daniel boone national forest. my husband and i went rafting and we saw a snake nestled in a rocky crevice. being a herper, i swam up for a closer look. the patternless snake was a dull dark tannish grey color. the head was not wide like a copperheads. i couldn't get him to gape so i never saw the 'cotton'mouth. after a few minutes it dove into the water. it was maybe two feet long. i saw another one just like it that was about 3 feet long. i scanned my National Aubobon Society Field Guide to identify the snake. according to the book, we only have cottonmouths in extreme southwest kentucky, whereas i was in the eastern part of ky, but i have heard reports of cottonmouth sightings in my area since i was a child. my only other clue is that it was a banded northern water snake, but it had no bands. i really would like to know what kind of snake this was. it looked kind of like a florida cottonmouth, but they have that dark streak across their faces, or so the pic in the field guide says... and this snake had no visible markings.
so.. any thoughts? thanks so much!
-kristin in Kentucky

Most likely a water snake.

Here's a possible clue, though...when it hit the water, did it swim away underwater, or with just it's head out of the water? Or, did it's whole body float on top of the water as it swam away?

Cottonmouths are very bouyant and, although they are capable of swimming under water, seldom do. I've seen Cottonmouths floating around coiled up and floating completely on top of the water like little round life rafts. Watersnakes usually dive and swim away underwater.

Probably not a cottonmouth. Oldherper, I know we've been here before regarding the limitations of published ranges, but this looks to be a considerable distance from the range of any of the cottonmouth subspecies. That, along with the small-ish head and patternless body lead me elsewhere.

I'm going to go with Queen snake (Regina septemvittata). Second choice would be Northern or Midland Water snake (Nerodia s. sipedon/pleuralis). They're normally patterned, but not always -and if they've been in muddy water recently, the pattern may not be apparent.
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MichaelB

I agree completely.

when the snake dropped into the water, it dissappeared. so it must've been a water snake then huh?

a queen snake?.. i remember seeing those in the guide.. i'll look it up. thanks!! -kristin

Yep, they're one of the so-called crayfish snakes (genus Regina), closely related to water snakes in their aquatic or semiaquatic preferences, as well as in their behavior. However, they have noticeably smaller heads than most water snakes, and are not as voracious biters (although they try!). Their abundance may vary considerably on a small regional scale, but Queen snakes have a fairly broad large-scale distribution from the Great Lakes south to the central Gulf coast (including central/eastern KY). Our species here (OK) is Graham's Crayfish snake, which I usually find basking in tree branches just over the water. When disturbed, they usually drop quickly into the water and disappear. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
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MichaelB