The Northern Water Snake: Everything You Need To Know!
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- One of the most commonly encountered snakes in the US, the Northern water snake also might be the most frequently misidentified as being a venomous copperhead or cottonmouth. In this video, I'll show you what makes these animals so cool and how to spot the differences between these harmless snakes and more potentially dangerous species.
Awesome Northern waters snake fact sheet by Emily Osterman from Study Echo:
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If you've made it this far in the description, remember to be safe when creature adventuring! Most wild animals can cause injury if harassed, and I do not recommend attempting to capture any creatures without purpose and practice. The reason that I interact with wildlife is to produce these educational videos, and I have years of zoology experience under my belt. Also, I always ask permission from a land owner before exploring on their property, and you should do the same.
Keep adventuring everywhere, and keep your adventures safe at all times!
-Ben Zino
"To the Lord your God belongs the Heavens, even the highest Heavens, and the earth and everything in it."
Deuteronomy 10:14
#reptiles #wildlife #nature
Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed this episode! Be sure to share this awesome Northern water snake fact sheet by Emily Osterman from Study Echo Instagram with your friends to help spread information about these snakes:
instagram.com/p/BxCwgjuhjNp/?
Yo nice video would you want to collab, it seems like we both support the green movement maybe we can make a video together or shout each others channels out?
My local pond here in Bristol Vermont is just OVERRUN with these beautiful creatures, infact, the whole ecosystem of ‘Bristol Pond’ as the natives call it, is Incredibly healthy…birds, moose, beavers, fish, reptiles, bear, fox…bring a chair and sit for an hour or so, and you will see any number of wild creatures doing their thing, its really quite beautiful and a popular summer hangout for birding, boating, fishing or just chilling.
Wow, that's awesome! Sounds like the perfect place to spend a day filming.
Knowledgable, entertaining, excellent presence, very good voicing. Keep up the good work. UA-cam is over run with garbage and I usually vote down about 90% of what I see. This I'm delighted to say is an exception.
Thanks so much Lance, really glad to hear that you found this video to be informative and entertaining!
I was kayaking on the minnehaha creek in Minnesota and i swear i came across these. It was a super grassy part of the creek and i saw tons of movement in the water around me. It scared me so i paddled as fast as i could. But whatever creature was still making movement, it seemed like a lot of them.
What really makes me feel it was a water snake was because i smelt a terrible stench. Ive never smelt snake before but the smell was nothing like ive smelt before. And it's egg hatching time according to Google.
It's really nice to see you admire these creatures. They scare the hell out of me but seeing you handle them gives me a new appreciation
It definitely sounds like it could have been a Northern water, they don't always smell great especially around the breeding season. Glad to hear you enjoyed this video!
Great video Ben! That’s so sad that people have an urge to kill snakes, even if they aren’t venomous. I’m so tired of people slaughtering coyotes and saying ‘protecting fawns’ when first of all, they are going to kill the fawn themselves, and second of all they eat thousands of male calves. Same with everything else, people think that we’re ok to eat whatever we want but when another animal follows its natural instincts and eats something, it’s the end of the world. But I’m getting off topic very informative, we don’t have many snakes up here but best know which kinds.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
I feel like if a person and dog were hanging off a cliff you would save the dog first
Ben: this is one of the most commonly found snakes in at least 48 states
Garter Snake: Hold my beer
Haha garters are pretty common too
Dude thus was a great video! I enjoyed it very much.
This video is amazing. It is super informative, but short. Which is super nice. You did an amazing job and I am liking and subscribing, I can’t wait to see more videos! 😊
Thanks so much, I really appreciate the support :)
Cool. I've been seeing these snakes from time to time in the pond behind my home and I've finally been able to identify them. Since the weather broke, I've been seeing them a lot more frequently, saw 3 at different points of the runoff pond that runs through my apartments. They seem to have their own territories or their favorite hang out spots, as I see them in the exact same places more than once.
That's awesome, different individuals definitely seem to have their own favorite basking locations.
Just found a northern water snake earlier that looked EXACTLY like this one. It was gorgeous.
I love this species, they are so variable in terms of coloration and behavior and certainly very beautiful.
The Wild Report yeah usually the ones I find are uggos but I still love them. It was a nice surprise to find a pretty honey colored one
Another fantastic video! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Eli, glad you enjoyed!
Great video Ben! I’ve kept an eye open for snakes and I haven’t seen any yet!! I had to share this! This had a lot of great info!!
Thanks Janet, so glad that you enjoyed!
These snakes have come to the pond in our backyard and started to eat some of our fish so we try to catch them and relocate them, last night I caught one and got a bit a few times but was able to relocate him without hurting the guy, cool snakes!
So glad that you relocated him instead of killing him!
Always fascinating, Ben, to see almost literally through your eyes as you go nose-to-nose with the serpents you catch! So cool too to see how calm this Narodia seems as it weaves between your fingers, or stops to preen before the camera. Yes, I agree, I am one "gorgeous" creature!"
Is there a less vividly patterned species of Narodia In the generally darker New York State waterways? I've seen several water snakes but none as colorful as this in the lakes and streams I visit.
Just this weekend alone Ive seen about 5 of these snakes in the rivers here in Central NJ. They're so cool I love them!
Neat, yeah they are so cool!
Great work Ben! That was a really beautiful individual, though I see Northern Water Snakes all the time, I’ve never seen one that red before. You presented a lot of fascinating information, and it was expertly done as always. Keep it up!
- Harrison and Evan
Thanks guys, this one was definitely exceptionally beautiful!
Just saw my first northern water snake in our creek. He or she was a beautiful juvenile. Love this video.
Nice video. Your passion really comes through.
I appreciate that, thanks for watching!
We also have diamondbacks down in Denton
Ben! Huge fan here been subscribed for a long time and love your videos, you seriously have some balls to be picking up snakes like this. Please make a video catching a water moccasin or copperhead and show him off to the camera like this, I haven’t really been able to find a video like that and know you’re the only man for the job! Thanks.
Thanks man, really appreciate the kind words! I have a copperhead video on my channel which you probably already saw, but if you mean free handling I don't generally do that with venomous species.
The Wild Report I know I know, but I really do think if anyone could do it it would be you, maybe you could free handle one just to show that they aren’t dangerous and won’t bite unless provoked. It would be so cool !
Good job buddy can tell you care about what youre doing keep it up dawg
Thanks Brandon, will do man!
Thank you for your response!!
Do you know if the snakes go into deep parts of lakes? I live in CT and we recently started seeing some near the docks and wonder if they go into the deep sections of lake as well or prefer to stay by shore.
Great video. We saw 2 banded water snakes creekside today here in NC🤙🏾
Thanks man, bandeds are awesome!
You're great keep up the good work!
Thanks so much!
3:98 so true. That's a nice looking northern. Cool fact sheet towards the end. Don't know how you did it, but you made a watersnake seem pretty cool.
Thanks man, really appreciate the support!
We have Northern Water Snakes all over Lake Erie and they are protected. Actually very useful creatures. 90 percent of their diet up here is the round goby which is a horrific invasive species responsible for the declining population of many of our native fish. Respect them and let them do their jobs! Another great video Benny.
That's so cool, I definitely want to film that species at some point in time!
Another great video, Ben, thanks! I pass by a location near a small creek on my morning walk where I regularly see what I *think* are Northern water snakes. This is in Massachusetts, about 20 miles NNW of Boston. The snakes are good size, so I think they are adults, and look uniformly black or very dark gray, with keeled scales. I haven't been able to take a close look, as they are very skittish, and quickly disappear if I try to get close. Could they be Northern water snakes with that coloration? Thanks!
Thanks, Stephen! Those could definitely be Northern water snakes, but many species frequent creeks for food, water, and shelter.
I held my first ever snake yesterday! A yellow rat snake according to my field guide. About 3 feet long, a pretty good sized one for my area.
I'm now obsessed. Must.....find....MORE.
@The Kingdom of Animals It's the first yellow rat snake I've ever seen. Yes it truly is amazing to handle one! And he/she was absolutely gorgeous.
Haha nice find man!
Fascinating
I just came across one of these snakes at my sister's cottage in Parry Sound, Ontario. Didn't know what it was but now I do. Looks the same.
Awesome video
Thank you!
I have seen two juvenile water snakes in the Adirondacks Mtn of NY this summer. Their colors and patterns are amazing. Is it possible to upload a photo to share?
I'd love to see that, please feel free to tag me @thewildreport on twitter or instagram and I'll take a look
Had one swim alongside my kayak. Very pretty snake.
They really are!
I think that I saw one yesterday in Little Rocky Run creek.
I observed a water snake which had captured a channel catfish which was approximately 6" in length. Is this common? I also have a picture of a water snake which is in the area of 4' long. I live in the Kansas City, MO area and have noticed a large amount of these snakes in our farm ponds and many are quite large. Do we just grow them bigger around here? Thank you for your excellent video!!
Awesome! They do favor catfish over other fish because they are slimy and easily swallowed, but I have never observed this behavior in the wild before. It is definitely possible that they get larger than normal there due to more food resources and if they aren't being killed at large sizes by humans.
Dang! Impressive.
I came across a snake a few weeks ago. Took some pictures of it. Still can't tell if it was a Northern Water Snake or a Massassaga Rattlesnake. (I never could see the end of the tail.)
i have a creek behind my neighborhood and it is taken over by northern water snakes. i love herping and finding these beautiful snakes but i always chicken out because i feel like it will hurt me even though the bites don’t hurt that much.
They can definitely be pretty common in certain creeks, and it is certainly a bit scary when they start striking.
I came here because I found one of these fellows in my garage today. He was about 12-14 inches long with a body that was stockier than most snakes. I noticed his bands did not match up on the rear halfof his body. I couldn't see his eyes well enough to determine if they were round or slits but concluded it was not a copperhead and let it walk, so to speak.
Glad you let him walk, they can definitely be tricky to identify!
How can I get rid or prevent snakes from visiting my pond??
I have fishes in my pond and the water snakes have eaten a lot of my fishes.
Tough question with no great answer. Snakes are a natural part of the landscape.
Watching because our man made pond got infested with these!
Trying to relocate them so this is very helpful knowledge
Glad I could help!
Just encountered one last night under my tripod!
Nicely done. Not sure if the northern water snake is the same as the northern moccasin, which, in my experience is way more aggressive. (And not nearly as pretty.) The snake in this video was a pleasant little guy.
Thank you! Northern waters are not 'moccasins' as in cottonmouths, but your Northern moccasin might just be a common name for this species.
Love this! Makes me miss catching snakes in my yard as a kid ;_; :)
Glad you enjoyed, Larisa!
Hello The Wild Report. Good video; I liked it! I was wondering if we could do a collaboration soon.
I grew up in the Erie Islands on Lake Erie and at that time all the docks for boats were crib docks( wood and rock filled) . The water snakes were as big as any I have ever seen. The best part was people knew they were harmless and just let em be
Those definitely get pretty huge, I really want to get up there and film the Lake Erie variety some day!
cold spring every time I go to the islands I see at least one water snake
The Lake Erie water snakes are a whole separate species of water snakes. It was on a Dirty Jobs episode with Mike Rowe.
What part of NC do you live in?
The Salisbury area.
Sleeping on a boat. 5am. Wake up to the sound of bloody murder. Hear the last screams of a poor rodent. Grass shakes across the water. BIG POPPA SNAKE comes out to play. Snake swims towards boat. Me freaks out. Close all the windows. Panic. Prepare for Snakocalypse 2020. Watch this video. What a good lil boy! Feel much better.
Seriously, thanks! This helped, I think I can go back to sleep now lol. One question though, I also heard a sound like cross between croaking and snorting while the snake was swimming. Was that also the snake?
Haha glad I could help. Also that definitely wasn't the snake, must have been the prey item
That looks nothing like a water mocasin. but yes it looks a lot like a copperhead. I ran across a snake that looked just like that, but I'm in texas. and where i seen it there is no water around. I thought it was a copperhead, but supposedly most venomous snakes have a diamond shape head versus a head that just looks like a wiener. With the exception of coral snakes. So I had my doubts that it was a copperhead, definitely the same colors as a copperhead, but the pattern seemed a little bit different. Are those snakes in southeast TX ?
These are not, but you have other Nerodia in that area. I'd check iNaturalist and see which specific species are common near you.
How do you handle it without it biting you?
Sometimes they can be super chill like this one!
Recorded horizontally:)
If water snakes are drawn to water then why havent i found any water snake near the creek that behind my house near the woods i go there looking and hoping to find one and i have zero luck any suggests?
It could just be too small of a system to provide the food and shelter a snake needs to thrive.
@@TheWildReportOfficial well i have seen small and meudim sized fish i even check under rocks and stuff still have zero luck im beinging to think snakes have left georgia for good
@@jonking9587 Haha it sometimes goes that way, just gotta keep trying and get lucky eventually!
@@TheWildReportOfficial ive also seen pretty good sized frogs too
@@TheWildReportOfficial i found a pretty good sized shed snake skin but didnt find the snake sadly hopefully ill have luck tomorrow
I am not near water and trying to figure out why one of these, same size as 'yours' was in my lawn today.....
Live and LET live :)
One of my favorite little bad attitude snake, 😂. Although the I hate that musk....
Yeah it doesn't smell the best haha
I hope 🤞 you would have a Black water snake 🐍
Ur pretty darn lucky, those little bogers can get fisty fast without a warning. I've ran into a few and they don't warn you just bite
i have actually found a wild 6 foot northern water snake. i got a video of it and everything
Wow, that's a giant!
I’ve been bit and lots of blood
Would you keep one as a pet?
They don't do well in captivity unfortunately.
I love these videos but something I would like to see is more footage of you actually looking for and finding the snake/animal, instead of just cutting to the part where you catch it. It would make us viewers feel more like a part of the adventure all the way through:)
I can definitely work on that in future videos, thanks for the help!
@@TheWildReportOfficial Nice, still a great video though!
I'm her because I found one in my well house and wondered what kind of snake it was . Good 3 feet long
Nice, that must have been quite the surprise!
I live in Kentucky and I find babies all the time. They bite but it dont hurt😅🤣
Yeah they are feisty little noodles haha
1st
Mn?
An old friend of mines mother here in Madison County Kentucky, more than 100 miles east of the Cottonmouth range, would tell this story of her cousin dying everytime we wete around and she saw one of these water snakes.
I tried to tell her but she would get absolutely livid to the point of tears and say this story:
Her cousin in the 70s was swimming in the reservoir and didn't come back. She said she found him and "water mocassins were all around him eating him, taking bites of his flesh while they stared evilly at her....
Yep. She'd basically shout me down and bring on her crazy absolutely false story to shut me up because she wanted her husband to kill the water snakes.
We all know snakes are incapable of biting off pieces and chewing..
What I think happened is he drowned, and fishes were nibbling his corpse and she may have seen a watersnake or 2 feeding on the fish.
Thats my guess anyways.
I can't imagine seeing something like that, it really stinks that she has such negative associations towards snakes. Maybe this video could change help her mind.
I find one f o this boy in the water today wen I was swiming
god i hate these snakes. when i was four i had a few of them chase me up a boulder- i did nothing to them!!!
that being said i don’t think you should kill snakes, i just simply try to avoid them when i’m in their territory
How far do you think they would go if displaced by "idiot humans" building? We have multiple ponds & creeks with in 1/4-1/2 mile and it has been wet here (rainy) I was working in my flower bed (used to seeing garter snakes).. when a foot and 1/2 long snake (thick bodied) was scared out of the garden, it then turned to go back in. Unlike the garters it seemed to struggle to get going. It moved fast enough but a garter would have blown its doors in ..as it moved that slow. It just seemed like it couldn't move as easily? ?? ???? I hate what is happening to this area.. . . . build build build -- idiots. It looked like an eastern water snake
Round pupils doesn't mean non-venomous all the time same as slitted pupils. It's a very inaccurate way of telling a venomous species from a non venomous species. All it means is snake with round pupils are diurnal where snakes with slitted are nocturnal. For an example of a venomous species with round pupils is the Rattlesnake, they're very venomous but have round pupils so that immediately proves the whole, "Round pupils means non venomous." theory wrong.
Rattlesnakes do have elliptical pupils, but not all venomous snakes do. All venomous species in North America do except for the coral snake.
Evolved? God created some snakes to prefer the water.
looks like you are trying to hide your braces,lol.
how to tell the difference between a venomous snake and a non-venomous snake: get bitten. if you feel the need to go to the hospital, then it's probably venomous. if you don't, you got lucky
Well that's one way to know haha
Cottenmouths are the same snake
I was kayaking on the minnehaha creek in Minnesota and i swear i came across these. It was a super grassy part of the creek and i saw tons of movement in the water around me. It scared me so i paddled as fast as i could. But whatever creature was still making movement, it seemed like a lot of them.
What really makes me feel it was a water snake was because i smelt a terrible stench. Ive never smelt snake before but the smell was nothing like ive smelt before. And it's egg hatching time according to Google.
It's really nice to see you admire these creatures. They scare the hell out of me but seeing you handle them gives me a new appreciation