Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Location: Hiwassee River, Towee creek put-in, Reliance TN.
Date: Sunday June 5, 2005.

There were five of these snakes basking in a small tree on the riverbank.

Cant see the pic. but im sure it is a northern water snake(nerodia sipedon sipedon) which is the only water snake in that range.

Snakemaster: In a situation like that, right click on the red x, then highlight the url under properties, & transfer it up to your address bar. I'm still not sure what the snake is, but it does seem to be a Nerodia. The only part of the underside I can see is unmarked. Ventral surfaces on Nerodia are often the key to the species. I just cannot see enough of that to make a determination.

~~Greg~~
Link to Picture

I don't understand why the pics aren't visible - they are when I preview the posts. Anyway, sorry about that.

Here are links to the pictures I tried to post.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/362809077/362810749OrhXBG

http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/gallery/563638/2/24164435

Yeah i see it. but what im saying is that the only nerodia in that range is the northern water snake.Midlands are in alabama and so on not in tennessesse

Gotcha. So no chance of them being Queen Snakes? That was my guess.

"Yeah i see it. but what im saying is that the only Nerodia in that range is the northern water snake.Midlands are in Alabama and so on not in tennessesse"

Actually, the midland ranges all the way up into ILL and IN. It is the Nerodia that covers most of TN. There is an ingrade zone with the Northern that looks to start about in the Reliance area and Northerns only occur in the eastern tip of TN. So if this snake were a pure Nerodia, it would be a midland, but it could be an ingrade.

With that said, from what I can see of the photos, I would agree that it is probably a Queen Snake.

The last blurry pic looks like it might be a Queen Snake, but the photo of the snake in hand is a Nerodia

Yep, the snake in hand was definitely Nerodia. I wish I had a better picture of him.

Cool if they were Queen Snakes! I will try to get some better pictures next time.

Incidentially, Towee creek, which is where these snakes were basking, is a shallow, fast spring fed creek that feeds into the Hiwassee. We found a crayfish in the creek when we put in with our kayaks. Thus, we found a queen snake's main food source, if the websites I've read are correct.

BTW my guess is that they were Queen Snakes.

We also caught a nice (well, ornery) Nerodia Sipedon swimming across the river. We let it go (of course!) after checking it out.

Here are two more photos of the snakes.
http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/gallery/563638/4/24278411
http://dangerjudy.smugmug.com/gallery/563638/4/24278410

I am stumped. This past time I copied and pasted the html from another post on here that has a photo, then replaced the image properties info from their photo with mine. It still didn't work, obviously.

last one

It is in fact a queen snake. plain belly and greenish brown patternless body gave it away. I find them every year here in Indiana

the first pic is a northern water second is a queen snake