Northern water snake The belly also varies in color. It can be white, yellow, or gray. Usually it also has reddish or black crescents. The northern water snake is nonvenomous and harmless to humans, but superficially resembles the venomous cottonmouth and is often killed unnecessarily as a result of this mistaken identity. The two can be easily distinguished by morphological traits: the water snake has a longer, more slender body and a flattened head the same width as the neck, round pupils, and no heat-sensing pits. The cottonmouth has a fatter body, a wedge-shaped head with prominent venom glands that are wider than
Florida banded water snake the lower sides is sometimes darker than the crossbands, producing an appearance of alternating blotches on the back and sides. The Florida water snake differs from the southern water snake ("N. f. fasciata") chiefly in the shape of the markings on the ventrals. In "N. f.pictiventris", these markings consist of transverse blotches, many of them enclosing an oval white spot, whereas in "N. f. fasciata", they are solid, squarish spots. Adults average in total length. They are ovoviviparous. Mating occurs from March to May, and the young are born from May to August, in broods of 25-57. The newborns are