Editor’s Note: The Banded Water Snake is part of the CROW CAW (Case A Week) series, which tells the stories of the patients at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island, the dangers they face, and how we can help protect all of our wildlife. It is made possible by Kingfisher Real Estate. Read previous cases here.
Since the start of 2025, CROW has admitted dozens of reptile patients, but this is our first snake.` This banded water snake (25-713) was hit by a car and received some scrapes and bruises along its head. It also has minor hyphema, or bleeding in its eye.
These injuries require time and supportive care to heal. The snake is now receiving medication for pain and inflammation, and we are monitoring its condition closely. It is housed in an aquarium with a tub of water and some hidey holes.
Banded water snakes are a common, nonvenomous species that make their home in the shallows and shores of freshwater habitats where they hunt fish and frogs. They are often mistaken for the cottonmouth (also known as the water moccasin) because of their similar brown and black coloration and semi-aquatic nature. However, these guys are slimmer with a rounded head, while the cottonmouth is stout with a triangular head. The cottonmouth tends to gape wide in a defensive posture, showing off its stark white mouth, while the banded water snake does not display this behavior.
It is evolutionarily advantageous for the harmless banded water snake to mimic its venomous relatives to scare off predators. If we look closely, we can learn to spot the difference – but no smart predator in the wild would stick around long enough to find out which species it’s dealing with.
Snakes are a key link in the food web and help support healthy ecosystems. We can’t wait to see this scaly friend slithering (and swimming) back in the wild.
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