Plain-bellied Water Snake

(Nerodia erythrogaster)

Gray Form

Brown Form

Color Photographs: Jeff Boundy, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Color Photograph: U.S. Forest Service

Mexican Distribution not Shown

Plain-bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster)

Identification: Snake 30 to 62 inches in length. Dorsal coloration variable; either gray, reddish-brown, or olive. Back may have darker lines or spots. Belly plain red, orange, or yellow, otherwise unmarked. Young individuals have distinct black blotches down the back. Scales keeled and anal plate divided.

Geographical Variation:

Red Bellied Water Snake (N. e. erythrogaster): Belly red, orange, or pink. Range: Along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Deleware in the north to Florida in the south and westward along the Gulf Coast to southeastern Alabama.

Yellow-bellied Water Snake (N. e. flavigaster): Belly yellow or yellow-orange. Range: More inland than above, from central Georgia to eastern Texas and north to Illinois.

Copper-bellied Water Snake (N. e. neglecta): Belly red or orange; belly scales sometimes margined with black. Range: Western Kentucky and northward into southeastern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

Blotched Water Snake (N. e. transversa): Belly yellow; back with light crossbars margined with black. Range: Western Missouri and southeastern Kansas southward throughout Oklahoma to central Texas and southeastern New Mexico and northern Mexico.

Range (see map below left): The Plain-bellied Water Snake has a wide distribution in the southeastern United States and northern Mexico. It is found along the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Deleware south to central Florida. The range occupied most of the central and southern eastern states from Illinois southward through the Great Plains to central Texas, and into northern Mexico.

Habitat: This species lives in swamps along rivers and the forested edges of streams, ponds, lakes, and bayous.

Food: Fish and frogs.

Behavior: The Plain-bellied Water Snake is most active in the early evening moving later at night to rest on branches overhanging streams and ponds. This species sometimes hangs by its tail from a branch overhanging water and fishes for prey.

Reproduction:  This species is a live breeder producing 5 to 27 young. The young are born from August to October.

Plain-Bellied Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster)

Similar Species:

This species might be mistaken for a species of Regina, the Crayfish Snakes.

Queen Snake (Regina semivittata)

Graham's Crayfish Snake (Regina grahami)

Swamp Snake (Seminatrix pygaea)