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Name This Animal

Is this a Corn Snake?

10 years ago

Found this in the garden this morning, then again later in the afternoon. Decided to catch it and get a picture. What I wanted to get didn't show up very good in the picture. It flattened itself out including its head, made me think twice about how to handle it because when it flattened out its head, it looked like a poisonous snake. I'm sure it is a Corn snake, but some confirmation would be nice. Thanks, Scott.

Comments (6)

User
10 years ago
No. It is a watersnake.

Assuming you live somewhere in the northern part of a gulf/southeastern state somewhere, it will be a midland watersnake (Nerodia sipedon pleuralis).
Banded Watersnakes (Nerodia fasciata) can look a bit like this as well in some areas.

Either way, it isn't a cornsnake, and it is harmless.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years ago
Most snakes will take on a defensive posture when alarmed. That head flattening is pretty common behavior.
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kentuck_8b
10 years ago
It kind of resembles a Copperhead.

Were the pupils of the eyes round or elliptical?
User
10 years ago
It does look a little bit like a copperhead in color pattern, but it isn't one. It is a harmless Watersnake.

Using the pupils to identify venomous snakes is fraught with danger. Some venomous snakes have elliptical pupils as do some harmless snakes. Some venomous snakes have round pupils.

What shape are this Coralsnake's pupils?

What about this one? This Western Diamondback is venomous and has round pupils here because it was photographed at night. The pupil shape changes with ambient light levels, just like in a cat.

And here's a harmless species (Texas Nightsnake) with elliptical pupils, for comparison -

This post was edited by FHFchrish on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 0:07
S.A.McKenzie
10 years ago
This snake is a hypomelanistic Banded Water Snake(Nerodia fasciata); the subspecies will depend on where it was found, as there is a Southern Banded and a Florida Banded. The hypomelanism gene is a co-dominant mutation which greatly reduces the amount of melanin, or black/brown pigment, leaving the other pigments to be much more noticeable. Reptiles, unlike us mammals, have more than one type of skin pigment. It's possible that this is a 'Super-Hypo', which means it is homozygous for the hypo gene, rather than the usual hypos which have a recessive gene for the normal skin coloration, which modifies the expression of the hypomelanism. I actually breed these snakes, and once had a Super-Hypo male that looked exactly like this snake. Here is a pic of him for comparison' [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Snake%20Photos/IMG_1681.jpg[/img]

Here is a link that might be useful:
S.A.McKenzie
10 years ago
This snake is a hypomelanistic Banded Water Snake(Nerodia fasciata); the subspecies will depend on where it was found, as there is a Southern Banded and a Florida Banded. The hypomelanism gene is a co-dominant mutation which greatly reduces the amount of melanin, or black/brown pigment, leaving the other pigments to be much more noticeable. Reptiles, unlike us mammals, have more than one type of skin pigment. It's possible that this is a 'Super-Hypo', which means it is homozygous for the hypo gene, rather than the usual hypos which have a recessive gene for the normal skin coloration, which modifies the expression of the hypomelanism. I actually breed these snakes, and once had a Super-Hypo male that looked exactly like this snake. Here is a pic of him for comparison' [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Snake%20Photos/IMG_1681.jpg[/img]

Here is a link that might be useful:

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