Very young snakes have black markings which Hghten during 

 the second year. 



Size. The adults are about 1060 mm. long. 



Habitat. This water snake lives along the water anywhere, 

 whether it be a hole dug for stock, a stream, a pond, or one of the 

 Great Lakes. 



Brcciinig Habits. As far as I have observed, this water snake 

 mates in the spring. The eggs develop and hatch within the female. 

 She gives birth to about twenty-four young during the late sum- 

 mer or early fall. 



Food. This species, like the Bullfrog, eats anything that it sees 

 move and that it can swallow, including crayfish, frogs and fishes. 

 Of this assortment, fishes seem to be the favorite food. In spite of 

 the worries of fishermen, this snake has little chance of catching 

 uninjured fishes of game species, except under the artificially 

 crowded conditions in hatchery pools. 



The Common Water Snake is too large to be a desirable aquarium 

 specimen when full grown, but is interesting when small. It is 

 called a "water moccasin" by country people, but it lacks poisonous 

 fangs and is harmless. It will bite readily when first caught, and its 

 little curved teeth may even draw blood just as those of the Blue 

 Racers do. However, it soon becomes accustomed to handling and 

 becomes rather tame. 



In an aquarium equipped with an island or log this snake will 

 live happily on minnows and frogs. As it is a good climber the 

 tank should be covered. 



Queen Snake (Matrix septemvittata) 



Two other Michigan water snakes, the Queen Snake (Matrix sep- 

 temvittata) and Kirtland's Water Snake (Natrix kjrtlandii) have 

 many of the characteristics of the Common Water Snake, but are 

 much less commonly encountered. The Queen Snake is chestnut 

 brown above with three narrow black stripes along the back and a 

 yellow stripe along each side. There are two dark brown stripes 

 along the center of the yellow belly and a dark stripe beneath the 

 two yellow side bands. It grows to be 600 mm. long. 



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