What am I?

[TheLastBaron]

I think this is a hatchling yellow bellied watersnake, or plain bellied, but I have only ever seen the yellow bellied subspecies here in galveston county, tx, before. I am open to second opinions :)

[FWK]

It is a Plain Belly (Nerodia erythrogaster), no subspecies are currently recognized. The exact range of the former N. erythrogaster subspecies in Texas seems debatable. In the book North American Watersnakes: A Natural History, the range of Yellow Belly Water Snakes (N. e. flavigaster) is shown to end along Polk, Tyler and Jasper counties, well north of Galveston. By this range map this animal would definitely be a Blotched (N. e. transversa). Other sources such as Herps of Texas (http://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/plain-bellied-watersnake) show Yellow Belly range extending as far south as Chambers county, much closer to Galveston but even by this map it would still be a Blotched. However this paper (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3322375/pdf/nihms365492.pdf) in 2010 stripped N. erythrogaster of all its subspecies, so it is currently recognized only as a Plain Belly Water Snake (Nerodia erythrogaster).

[TheLastBaron]

Well, plain bellied or not, the ones here where I live have yellow bellies, so the snakes formerly known as yellow bellied watersnakes are indeed here. Theres a canal near my house where there has been a population of them for 30 years now (at least), and I caught that baby near there this evening. Here is an adult I caught awhile back and since released. The yellow doesn't show great in the photo, but it's obvious when you see the snake in person.

[TheLastBaron]

The adults aren't the most attractive snakes around since they usually lose the pattern, but the babies sure are beautifully colored and patterned.

[FWK]

The color of the belly is relatively meaningless, the Plain Bellies in my neck of the woods have bright yellow bellies as well. I'm in Victoria county, a few hundred miles south west of Yellow Belly range. You would have to count scales to positively differentiate between subspecies. You are well outside of traditional Yellow Belly range, though, obviously, snakes can't read range maps so I'm sure anything is possible.

[TheLastBaron]

I see. Watersnakes aren't really a strong area for me, only recently started catching and keeping any of them at all. I didn't know that the 'true' yellow bellied had a different number of scales. Since I still have the little guy I'll give it a go tonight and see if this one is outside norms for the range, or just a regular plain bellied (pre-2010 anyways). It's useful to know that they eliminated the subspecies though. thanks for the info guys, appreciate the second opinions. It's rare I second guess myself, but as I said before, watersnakes are a weak area for me, I'm much more used to dealing with rats and kings.

I have a question though and I think I can answer for myself, but will the plain bellied breed with the broad banded watersnake?

[FWK]

I have a question though and I think I can answer for myself, but will the plain bellied breed with the broad banded watersnake?

I don't know the answer to this myself. I would think yes, but I have no references either way. Plain Bellies (N. erythrogaster), Banded (N. fasciata), and Commons (N. sipedon) are all very closely related, at one point Bandeds were even considered subspecies of Commons. Gophers, Kings, and Rats are all genetically compatible and have been known to interbreed on rare occasions in the wild (and much more often in captivity), it would seem strange to me if these much more similar Water Snakes didn't interbreed on occasion. Especially considering how much their respective ranges overlap. I'll have to do some reading when I have time.