Help me identify snake please?

[qcrossley]

I was in Russia a few years ago (close to Saratov) I spent a week in a cabin on the volga. Every morning I washed myself in the river and said hi to a snake friend. I found out everyone else was scared of the snake and ran. I know nothing about snakes and live in Canada. Can anyone help me identify?

I don't have a picture but... It swam in the volga river. It was bright green kinda skinny between 1 and 2 feet long and smooth scales. I tried google and all I could find was the Russian rat snake, and it's not that. I'm interested to know what I saw and if it is venomous. Thanks folks.

[StudentoReptile]

Umm....yyeeahh. We're gonna need a photo. I'm not that familiar with Russian snake species. Google is your enemy on this. Sorry.

[TheFrogman]

I d love to see a picture also, That's like asking me if I know a guy named Frank in a city of 2 million.

[Jim Smith]

Like the others said, your description is a bit vague and without a photo, it's almost impossible to identify the snake you're talking about. THat said, did it look anything like this? https://www.google.com/search?q=Green+water+snake+%2B+russia&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tIOgUv2tCOXa2QXClIF4&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=605#facrc=_&imgrc=laV7QHxZduPlXM%3A%3B4eRcxQe0ZrXdIM%3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Fus.123rf.com%252F400wm%252F400%252F400 %252Fkirsanovv%252Fkirsanovv0808%252Fkirsanovv0808 00055%252F3414421-a-close-up-of-a-snake-tiger-water-snake-on-stone-russian-far-east-primorye.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.123rf.com%25 2Fphoto_3414421_a-close-up-of-a-snake-tiger-water-snake-on-stone-russian-far-east-primorye.html%3B1200%3B906

[Roman]

From your description it might have been a member of the European water snake genus Natrix. From the location it could have been either the European grass snake (Natrix natrix) or the dice snake (Natrix tessellata). You might also want to look for the large headed water snake (Natrix megalocephala) (which probably is not really a species but merely some large Natrix natrix).

From the habitat it is more likely to be Natrix tessellata, because Natrix natrix is more associated with ponds or small lakes, not with large rivers. Natrix tessellata on the other hand is often found at rivers, here in Germany we have a large population at the river Elbe.

There are no other members of the genus Natrix in Russia, so if both (or all three) don’t match I don’t know what it might be instead.

It was no venomous snake, there are only Vipers in Europe (Genus Vipera and others like Macrovipera), but they don’t like to swim and will not go into a river on a regular basis.

Roman

[qcrossley]

Thanks guys, I think you might be right about that dice snake (this was 2009 and my memory is not totally clear on this). I broke my camera on that trip when I got sand in the lens. I won't be going back soon either I think. Thanks for the help everyone.