On our walk on 4-20-24 at the Coastal Oaks Preserve led by Indian River Land Trust Director of Stewardship Dave Fuss, we saw a Florida banded water snake (Nerodia fascia pictiventris) well-camouflaged in the “bed” of a dried out pond area. This stout and sturdy non-venomous snake usually is found near shallow bodies of water.
At first glance folks thought it to be a venomous cottonmouth, but a banded water snake has round pupils and a dark strike angling from its eye to its jaw. A cottonmouth snake has elliptical pupils and a facial pit between its eyes and nostrils.
We also saw a banded water snake long ago (shown below) sunning on the back of the mosquito control dike at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 8-14-2009 …
These snakes usually sport black, brown or red crossbands, though aged individuals may be uniformly black, and can be from 22 to 42″ long. They have a reputation for being ornery but will flee when confronted if they can, often to water where they can stay submerged underwater for 2+ hours. When molested, they will bite and and release a foul-smelling musk from a pair of glands in the base of the tail.
Florida water snakes are nocturnal and feed at night on frogs, fish, and aquatic invertebrates. They overpower their prey grabbing them in their jaws & eating them alive.
Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 