Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery photos of snake

I saw this snake trying to eat this big frog. not sure what kind of snake it is, some kind of water snake.

Paul,

That appears to be a Northern Water Snake. It is not a snake you want to try and make friends with. They have bad attitudes. Part of their diet is scavenging rotting critters in the water. The have real bad breath and they don't brush their teeth. They are not venomous. But, between their nasty attitude towards people, and their filthy mouths, they should be given a lot of respect.

If you pick them up, they have a nasty musk they can let loose, and they may also empty their intestines. It is kind of like vulture vomit.

What part of MD are you in? Those snakes are pretty common in the upper reaches of the Chesapeake watershed, like near the the Shenandoah, various branches of the upper Potomac, etc.

Regards,
Ken

P.S. Their coloration is a lot like that of a copperhead. However, the northern water snakes get a lot longer than copperheads. I once killed one thinking it was a copperhead, because it was stretched between two bushes near the front entrance to where I work. I couldn't see the head -- which is the positive identifier. I also couldn't see the tail. I should have known it was not a copperhead, because the bushes were more than four feet apart, and few copperheads get that long.

Northern water snake

http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac341/raherman/DSCN04471.jpg

I live in Charles County, Maryland. I havent seen any water snakes that color before. Most of the water snakes I've seen are brown water snakes. C.J. has already said how bad quality pictures my phone takes but that is all I had at the time. Just thought they would be neat photos to post.

Give me spiders all day, any day. But even PICTURES of snakes give me the heebee jeebees.