It was a sluggish day. Even the mower seemed slow, hampered by a headwind as it was. The only thing moving quickly was the wind — gusts so forceful the clipped grass chips stung my legs. Dust and clippings swirled under my face mask and into my eyes.
Other than those annoyances, it was a lovely, balmy and overcast 80-degree day. The wind had dried the dew, allowing an early morning go at the lawn.
The conditions that were perfect for me seemed to render the snakes sluggish — which was good for me and my ever-handy phone camera! The first wee tot I spied was a thin, greyish slither on top of the green grass. It was travelling slowly, away from the resaca. I nearly clipped it with the mower, but powered down as soon as it caught my eye. I quietly slid off the mower seat as I grabbed my phone from a back pocket. I fired off my first shot.
As I crept closer, the snake adopted various poses, including a semi-threatening strike attitude — which would have been more effective had the snake been longer than 12 inches and thicker than a blade of grass — as was the case later in the morning.
However, the tiny thing did give me pause — I’m never tempted to handle any wildlife, but I did for a moment consider putting a bit more distance between the feisty little guy and me.
I left the wee thing to travel on while I climbed back on the mower and uploaded an image to my iNaturalist phone app. I got an instant identification: diamondback water snake (Nerodia rhombifer).
I recall (hopefully correctly) from our Texas Master Naturalist classes that there are only two venomous snakes here in the Rio Grande Valley which is why I’m usually keen to get a good, close photograph — this snake was neither a Western diamond-backed rattlesnake nor a coral snake.
Before writing this blog post, I checked my iNaturalist page, and the images I’d uploaded had been elevated to research grade. INaturalist lists scientific name along with common name. I copied that information into Google and found a lot of interesting websites about the diamond-backed water snake.
I’m always interested in what a critter eats — if I want a critter to stick around, I want to know if I have the right buffet for it. Of course, first, I want to know if I WANT a critter to stick around the property.
As for the water snake, first, it is not venomous — that’s a good thing. A second bit of information showed me how fortuitous is my resolve to not touch wild things, as confirmed by this passage from https://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/diamond-backed-watersnake
“Behavior . . . non-venomous, it is a zealous biter and will bite an attacker repeatedly. The attacker is also frequently covered with musky feces released by the agitated snake.”
SO good to know! — Especially the bit about that musky-scented chain of events, right?
The Herps of Texas site also mentioned that the snake’s “keeled dorsal scales are in 25 to 31 rows near midbody,” which is something I shall certainly trust. There’s no need for me to do my own original research!
Not a half hour later, I was aiming the mower off the driveway into another section of lawn when I came nearly nose to nose with the big momma of all snakes. Before I could get close, this one had turned and, more than a little sluggishly, disappeared into a stand of giant philodendrons surrounding an old honey mesquite.
The average length of a diamondback water snake is about 30 to 48 inches. I’d say “my” big snake was close to 36 to 40 inches long and had quite a hefty girth! Females are generally bigger and heavier than male diamondback water snakes, according to Herps of Texas website.
Herps of Texas also noted that “Nerodia rhombifer is viviparous, giving birth to an average of 47 live young, each of which measure between 8 to 13 inches. These young snakes are born in the late summer and early fall.”
About 70 percent of snakes lay eggs, others do not. Zoologically speaking, viviparous means, (of an animal) bringing forth live young that have developed inside the body of the parent — specifically in the diamondback water snake, the eggs remain in the snake’s body where they develop and the young are born live. The young snakes are independent as soon as they are born.
Another fun site is https://snake-facts.weebly.com/diamondback-water-snake.html — where you can see a photo of an adult diamondback water snake eating a huge fish.
The snake-facts site had a comprehensive list of the snake’s diet, calling it a “food generalist, feeding mainly on aquatic species, including fish and amphibians and sometimes mammals and reptiles.
“Diet includes small and slow fishes, frogs, toads, tadpoles, minnows, salamanders, and crayfish. Occasionally they eat young turtles, worms, leeches, insects even other snakes. The diamondback water snake will also readily feed on carrion as well.”
Diamondback water snakes are active, day-time hunters. “They move through the shoreline in shallow or even deeper water looking for prey. One of their hunting strategies is to swim through a school of fish with their mouths wide open and swallow anything they catch. Another is to herd fish into shallow water and with a coil of its body entrap those fish.”
Texas Parks and Wild Department’s website is always amazing to explore. I hit on this interesting page for Texas Junior Naturalists about Texas’ venomous snakes.
On our fish farm in Oklahoma, diamondback watersnakes were a constant presence. They ate a lot of our fish and grew very large. Guy got bit once-lots of blood. Our big Doberman did too. He’d bite the snake’s body and shake it back and forth until it fragmented. I appreciated the dog’s habit of grabbing snakes as they swam toward me when I was in a pond.
Oh, indeed! Good watch dog — that’s fantastic!
Anita, I always love your blogs ecause you teach me new things in an interesting way. Since these snakes are enthusiastic biters I will respect their territory, after all, I am a Lorenz.
Thank you and have a very happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I do try to research enough to find information that I think people don’t readily know. Thank you for letting me know that tactic works. That bit about the repeated biting was scary! I don’t need to get any more close photos of that particular snake!
excellent article! quite humorous and very informative!
Thank you. What great praise. Straight facts are better digested with humor, I think.
I thoroughly enjoyed this! Thank you!
Thank you! And great article you had in the November 28 South Padre Parade entertainment guide (Creatures Among Us) on page 2, about the Loggerhead Shrike. Your bird could team up with my big mama diamondback water snake and they could conquer small backyards!