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Project Noah Nature School
Nerodia fasciata
Saw this snake hiding under a log at the lake at Shelby Forest in Millington, TN. The water snake is a mostly aquatic, nonvenomous species occasionally mislabeled a "water moccasin."
Thanks Lois and Matthew! I tend to learn toward broad-banded too now that I've looked over both. The banding pattern on the northern species looks like it goes pretty consistently from wide to narrow in each band, while this is a more random pattern.
No doubt its Nerodia. I lean towards fasciata rather than sipedon however. It has a very large, sporadic banding pattern that i have only ever seen in Broad-bands as opposed to the latter. It may only be an N. f. but i am pretty certain its a Broad-Banded. Also southern species seem to have a more destinctive reddish hugh than their Northern counterparts, both fade with time however.
I'm not really sure which one it is, but I think it's a Nerodia, probably Banded or Northern but not really sure.
Spotted on Aug 12, 2012
Submitted on Sep 12, 2012
