Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This one is especially for you Pierson! This is the little guy I was telling you about before. His patterning is a lot lighter than most fasciata in this area. Am I dealing with a different subspecies?

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Conrad
Too Fast Reptiles
www.toofastreptiles.bravehost.com

Just a shot of his belly to show how he lacks the normal pattern of the bandeds in this region. Normally fasciata that I deal with in this area have highly patterned bellies, even as juviniles.

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Conrad
Too Fast Reptiles
www.toofastreptiles.bravehost.com

That's a pure Banded Watersnake. N. fasciata fasciata are extremely variable animals and you can find bright orange individuals like that with varying frequency throughout their range. The prettiest I've seen have been from the SC coastal plain - I'd love to get some like that in the future.
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Pierson Hill

Herpetology and Herpetoculture

Well, that's cool. I was wondering for a while now cause of the lack of standard patterning, especially on his ventrals. I've seen a lot of variation in the N. erythrogaster in the area, but not so much with the N. fasciata, and I've only seen one N. taxispolata, and he was DOR. According to maps, we are at the bottom of the range for N. sipedon, though I haven't seen one here yet. The funny thing is, a lot of range maps don't break down species enough to show all species, especially of Nerodia in the area. I have to usually break down each on individually and find their ranges. Thanks for the info again.
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Conrad
Too Fast Reptiles
www.toofastreptiles.bravehost.com