User:Kcarr77/Nerodia erythrogaster

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Natural habitat

Plain-bellied water snakes are found in every southeastern state of the U.S., from Florida to southeastern Virginia on the east coast, and as far west as Oklahoma and Texas. The are not found in the Appalachian Mountain Range, which excludes them from eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. The snakes are almost always found near a permanent water source. They are usually seen near rivers and floodplains, lakes and ponds and any natural wetlands in their geographic range.[4]

Description

The plain-bellied water snake is a large, thick-bodied, solid-colored snake. Subspecies can be brown, gray, olive green, greenish-gray, and black in color. Some lighter colored snakes display dark dorsal blotches. This snake can be distinguished from other water snakes by its plain, unmarked underside varying in color from red to yellow. It is also easy to identify by its lower jaw coloration, yellow or red with black stripes. It gets its common name because it has no marking on its underside. Its scientific name erythrogaster comes from the Greek word “erythros” meaning red and “gaster” meaning belly. Adults vary in size from 24–40 inches (76–122 cm) in total length. Juvenile snakes have banding patterns similar to banded water snakes, but can be identified by their unmarked bellies.

Behavior and Diet

Plain-bellied water snakes are active in the warmest months of the year. During the hottest months of summer, they will be active both during the day and at night. In warmer months, they are typically found basking on logs or near bodies of water, swimming, or traveling over land. During hot, humid weather, they will travel long distances away from water. They are unusual for a water snake in the amount of time that they are found on land. They hibernate during the coldest months of the winter.

The species gets most of its food from the water. They feed primarily on fish, crayfish, salamanders, and frogs. Because of the amount of time they spend on land, the snake's diet includes a large quantity of amphibians. Like most other snakes it will hunt for prey, but the snake has been observed submerged in water waiting for prey to approach them. They apprehend and swallow prey alive without using constriction.

Reproduction

This species bears live young (ovoviviparous) like other North American water snakes and garter snakes. The snake breeds from April until mid-June in the southeast U.S. The female gives birth during the months from August to September. Large broods have been observed, but a typical litter size is around eighteen. One female was observed with a litter of fifty five hatchlings in North Carolina. In 2014 a captive female produced two healthy offspring via parthenogenesis.

Conservation

The plain-bellied water snake is considered a conservation risk because of loss of wetlands and other anthropogenic factors. 35% of wetlands worldwide have been lost from 1970 to 2015. This species is often struck by vehicles while it crosses highways traveling from one water source to another. They are commonly mistaken for cottonmouths and are consequently killed by people averse to snakes. It is not a protected species in the southeastern states. In 1997, the subspecies, copper-bellied water snake was designated a threatened species in Ohio, Michigan and northern Indiana under the Federal Endangered Species Act.