Northern water snakes a blustery, but harmless and common, neighbor on the water

Posted on: September 1, 2017 | Bob Frye | Comments

Northern water snakes are common across Pennsylvania and several other states.

Northern water snakes are doing well all across Pennsylvania these days.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures

The fish on the end of the line was a little one, a bluegill perhaps three or four inches long that had swallowed a bit of nigthcrawler.

As it turned out, getting hooked was the last of his worries.

My son’s friend hooked the fish, a few years back now, on a backpack fishing trip. A young, inexperienced and – to be honest – not-too-sure-about-this angler, he didn’t know what to do next.

So, he let the bluegill dangle in the water, where it thrashed around a bit.

And … that was bad news for the fish.

The commotion attracted a northern water snake, which swam over, grabbed the fish in his mouth and tried to swim away.

The snake never got hooked himself, at least not deeply. But it took a good bit of writhing, coiling and splashing before he was able to get the fish loose and make off with his free meal.

Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Well, if you live just about anywhere east of the Mississippi — and if you call Pennsylvania home, for sure — there’s always a good chance you might.

Northern water snakes are found in lakes, ponds, streams and rivers statewide, according to the PA Amphibian and Reptile Survey, a citizen science documentation network.

They can be hard to miss, too.

Northern water snakes get relatively big. According to the Survey, they can reach 25 to 55 inches long. They’re “heavy-bodied,” it adds.

Northern water snakes sometimes feign aggression, but don't hurt people if left alone.

A northern water snakes tries to make off with a young angler’s bluegill.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures

Oh, and they’re aggressive, too.

Sort of, anyway. They will defend themselves if cornered, said Chris Urban, chief of the natural diversity section for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

“And if you handle one, you’re going to get bit,” he said.

Most often, he said, they’ll flee people, as they see humans as a predator.

But they’re not above a little posturing first.

He calls it “feigning aggression.”

“They’ll sometimes come toward you. They’re trying to be dominant,” he said. “I’ve had them swim right up to me in the water.

“But if you stand your ground they’ll leave.”

Any number of state parks that have water – be it a lake or something else – have signs along the shore alerting people to the snakes. They make it clear they aren’t a threat.

At one time, though, the snakes were considered pests. The then-Fish Commission even encouraged people to kill them.

An article in the August 1934 issue of Pennsylvania Angler, the commission’s magazine, noted that Boy Scouts who killed 10 snakes and reported it to their scoutmaster were awarded “a fine medal inscribed ‘Junior Conservationist.’” The only catch – the snakes had to be at least 12 inches long.

Boys who weren’t scouts could also get a medal by killing 10 water snakes and reporting that, “on their honor,” to a game warden, fish warden or local sportsmen’s club.

The snakes are protected these days, of course. And they’re doing well for it, Urban said.

“They’re one of those critters, they’re doing pretty well,” he said. “If there’s water, they’ll be there.”

Northern water snakes at a glance

So what are water snakes and what aren’t they?

Well, to their detriment, they’re sometimes mistaken for copperheads.

Whereas water snakes are striped, though, copperheads feature a distinctive hour-glass pattern. They have the vertical pupil, or “cat’s eye,” unique to venomous snakes, too.

As for water snakes?

Here’s a description from the PA Amphibian and Reptile Survey:

  • The background of the upper body is greyish brown, light brown, tan or grey. There’s also a series of brown to reddish-brown wide saddles on the front third of the body that are wider at the backbone and narrow towards the belly.
  • The background of the belly is cream to yellow-brown or red with a bold pattern of many reddish-brown to brown crescent blotches bordered with black.
  • The head is greyish brown to brown with variable dark markings.
  • The scales that border the mouth opening along the upper jaw are cream to beige with dark vertebral bars along the sutures. The chin and throat are cream to yellow.
  • Adults and shedding individuals may appear to have a uniform brown to dark grey dorsal. Young are brighter and have a higher contrasting pattern that darkens with age.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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