Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello!

I shot some photos of this snake in Syracuse, NY but I have no idea what it is. I took a look at Suny ESF's snake page (http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/snakes/snakes.htm) but it doesn't seem to match any of those. I've included some body and head shots. It looked a little bit like the Nerodia sipedon photo on the SUNY ESF page, but I haven't been able to find other examples of that species that match this snake. The red blotches seem very weird.

Anyway, here are the photos. Thanks for any help!

Northern watersnake.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

As Mark stated, your initial thought of Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake) was right on. Feisty guys aren't they?
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Joe

Thanks for the ID confirmation. This one was actually very calm.

That's a killer example of N. sipedon too!..

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I have a vacation house not that far from that area. I have a great pond on my property. I have never seen such beautiful watersnakes as this. I would not mind having a few of them on my property.

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Here's a few shots of one we found this morning in MA.

The red on these snakes is very beautiful. This one was also very calm, which is not the same of my encounters with them in the past.
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Joe

That's another great looking example for SURE!

With your luck, I'm suprised it wasn't an albino!..hahaha!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I got a pic of one of those myself. I was visiting my family's camp up in West monroe area (oneida lake) and they shot one of those with a bee bee gun.. I was so pissed.. (but I took a pic of it to show someone to see what it was).. they told me it was a northern water snake. If it were alive I would have taken it home. (against my wife's wishes I'm sure)