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Banded watersnake

Nerodia fasciata · Snakes · Reptiles

Banded watersnake (Nerodia fasciata): Dark stripe from the eye to the angle of the jaw. Base colour gray, tan, dark olive or black, with dorsal cross bands along the entire body; belly off-white or white. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Nerodia fasciata
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Southeastern United States: eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, southeastern Missouri, western Tennessee, Mississippi, southern Alabama and Georgia, Florida and the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Dark stripe from the eye to the angle of the jaw. [1][2]

Base colour gray, tan, dark olive or black, with dorsal cross bands along the entire body; belly off-white or white. [1][2]

Nerodia f. fasciata has square dark ventral markings; N. f. confluens has wide bands (11-17 along the body) and reddish-brown rectangular belly-side spots; N. f. pictiventris has wavy reddish transverse lines on the belly. [1][2]

Adults 61-106.7 cm; neonates about 24 cm and more vividly patterned than adults; females longer and heavier. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Vegetated freshwater ponds, lakes, marshes, wet prairies, sluggish streams and rivers, ditches and swamps; shelters in bank-side burrows or under debris. [1][2]

Tolerates slightly brackish water (under about 1 ppt) but does not survive in saltwater. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Active day and night; basks on banks and in edge vegetation, and is most active at night after summer rains. [1][2]

Eats frogs, toads, salamanders, tadpoles, fishes and aquatic invertebrates; juveniles eat mostly fish, adults mainly frogs or large fish. [1][2]

Hibernates beneath logs or rocks or in burrows; may leave an area in severe drought. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southeastern United States: eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, southeastern Missouri, western Tennessee, Mississippi, southern Alabama and Georgia, Florida and the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web