Description: Plain reddish-brown, brown, greenihs, or gray, becoming lighter on the sides. Some populations have dark bordered light crossbars down the back. The belly is plain red, orange, or yellow, but occasionally the belly scales have dark edges. Juveniles have vivid darlk blotches down the back, alternating with dark crossbars on the sides. The scales are keeled in 23 - 27 rows with the anal plate usually divided.
Habitat: River swamps and the forested edges of streams, ponds, lakes, and bayous.
Breeding: Mates April to June. 5 to 27 young, 7½" to 13" long, are born August to October.
Range: Southern Delaware to northern Florida, west through Alabama to western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, north to western Missouri and southern Illinois and Indiana. Scattered populations in Michigan, Ohio, and eastern Iowa.
Diet: Eats mainly fishes and frogs; also tadpoles, salamanders, crayfish, and other aquatic invertebrates
Behavior: Active in early evening. plain-Bellies are often seen corssing roads on warm rainy or humid nights. Later they may take refuge and sleep high in the branches of trees overhangning streams.
Conservation Status: Habitat destruction and/or "human contact" has extirpated this species from some parts of its former range , particularly in the north-central part of the range (Great Lakes states). Apparent range expansion accompanied impoundment of a river in Missouri. This species can successfully colonize and establish populations in reclamation ponds in formerly strip-mined areas.
Additonal Notes: They have been observed to anchor themselves in the vegetation and fish with their mouth opened to the current.
Subspecies:
Red-Bellied Water Snake (N.e. erythrogaster) - the underside is red, orange, or pink. Found in Delaware to northern Florida and southeastern Alabama. Photo...
Yellow-Bellied Water Snake (N.e. flavigaster) - The underside is yellow or yellow-orange. Found in northcentral Georgia to central Texas and north to southwestern Illinois. Photo...
Copper-Bellied Water Snake (N.e. neglecta) - belly red and or orange, frequently with dark color on edges of belly scales. Found in western Kentucky, southeastern Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Photo...
Blotched Water Snake (N.e. transversa) - the underside is yellow, the back has dark bordered light crossbars. Found in western Missouri, southeastern Kansas through Oklahoma and central Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and adjacent Mexico. Photo...
