Watery already. Already ordinary: description and photo. Snake life cycle

Watery Black Morph(Natrix tessellata black)

Class - Reptiles
  Squad - Scaly

Family - Already

Rod - Uzi

Appearance

Black color. Size up to 1.6 m, but usually 1-1.3 m. Females are larger than males. The scales of the body are strongly keeled, around the middle of the body there are 19 scales. Whiskers are one-piece.

Habitat

Water is already widespread throughout southern Europe, in the southern regions of Russia and Ukraine (Don, Volga, Kuban, Black and Azov seas, estuaries, Kakhovka reservoir), as well as in Transcaucasia and Central Asia. In general, this is more southern than ordinary. But still this species is quite rare in nature.

In nature

It lives near various fluid and standing reservoirs, on sea coasts and islands. He can freely live in close proximity with a person in cities, villages, towns, etc. It coexists perfectly in the water, is an excellent swimmer and diver. In nature, they feed on frogs, toads, fish, lizards, as well as small rodents, birds and insects.

Breeding

About 50-60 days after mating, the females lay their eggs. The masonry is removed and together with the cage placed in an incubator at a temperature of 27-29 ° C. . After 50-60 days, horns hatch from the eggs, which begin to feed after the first molt.

For the maintenance of this species requires a size of 100 50 60 cm or more. To make the snake feel good, install an incandescent lamp in one corner of the terrarium, and make a ventilation hole in the other, tightened with a durable mesh. It will also provide you with a “Warm” and “Cold” angle, this is done so that the snake can choose a suitable temperature for itself (Further, it will be easier for you to navigate in the temperature mode since the preferences of each individual still do not differ dramatically, but always purely individual). The temperature in the warm corner during the day should be up to 30 ° C. It would be nice to put some stone under the lamp so that the snake could warm itself. At night, the heating must be turned off, this will simulate the change of day and night.

To make the snake feel comfortable, put some kind of shelter of any shape in the terrarium: a snag, a shelf, a piece of bark. Be sure to install a cuvette with water in the dwelling where you could easily swim and lock during molting. Also put a peat cuvette or or use them as soil. After all, snakes always choose damp places for their place of residence, and peat and sphagnum retain moisture well. In order to better maintain moisture, periodically spray the soil from the spray gun.

In terrarium conditions, snakes of frogs, toads and fish. Young are offered small frogs and fish. Feeding is done approximately once every five days, after the snake has digested previous feeds and has miscalculated well. They drink water, for which they should be regularly changed in an artificial pond of a terrarium. Together with the feed, it is necessary to give various mineral supplements, for example: crushed eggshell, calcium. Mineral water can be added to the drinker (Borjomi). Not more than once a month, offer vitamin preparations with food. Well-balanced feeding for reptiles to give, according to the instructions.

Life expectancy up to 15 years.

Water already, or as it was popularly called “the chess viper” is often found in the neighborhood of ordinary snake and lives near both flowing and non-flowing reservoirs. His appearance on the beach quite often raises a real panic among vacationers. People immediately crawl out to land, and the fate of the troublemaker, alas, is sometimes unenviable. I suggest you find out some interesting facts about this snake.

“Are you taking a picture of the viper?” I heard a voice behind me. “See that you don’t bite.”

“No, not a viper, but a snake,” I answered, not looking up from the camera's viewfinder and taking another close-up.

- Yes, the vipers are now crossing with the snakes: it turns out both black and gray, and in the box, and all terribly poisonous!

A similar dialogue happens every time someone sees me catch or photograph water snakes

The notoriety of these snakes is just the fruit of the fear of people who are not familiar with reptiles. Water snakes are devoid of the characteristic sign of a non-poisonous snake, familiar to everyone - yellow-orange spots in the back of the head, which are common snake (Natrix natrix). For this reason, unknowing people of all snakes without such spots are classified as vipers and are considered poisonous and dangerous. Many divide all legless reptiles into snakes and simply “snakes”, referring to vipers. So they say: "Is this really a snake?"

As soon as water snakes are not called: “a hybrid of a viper and a snake”, “a chess viper”, a “chess”. When screaming a “chess snake” on the beach, swimmers jump out of the water and wait for the snake to swim away, or until there is a “daredevil” and doesn’t kill the snake with a stick. Often you hear the stories of fishermen about "meter vipers" crossing rivers or climbing into cages with fish.

All these stories are not really connected with vipers, they are about water snakes. The species name of the snake N. tessellata is really translated from Latin as chess, but it has nothing to do with vipers. It belongs to the genus already (Natrix sp.) As well as ordinary already.

For humans, water is harmless. Remedies of this snake are loud hissing and fetid excrement released in danger. Unlike ordinary snake, water almost never pretends to be dead.

The main food of water snakes is fish, which they catch among aquatic plants, snags or trapping, lying at the bottom. The snake cannot swallow the caught prey underwater, therefore it rushes to the shore, where it swallows the fish, having first turned its head to itself.

If the prey is too large, the meal can drag on for an hour or even longer. Some snakes die without calculating strength and choosing too large a fish.

“Water is already quite widespread: from southwestern France, the valley of the river. The Rhine in the west, the southern border of the range runs along the eastern part of northern Africa (to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan), in the east it occurs to the north-west of China, and the northern limits of the occupied territory pass through the Volga-Kama region, ”says the candidate of biological sciences, an employee Volgograd State University, herpetologist Dmitry Gordeev.

“This species belongs to the class of reptiles (Reptilia), the order of snakes (Serpentes), the family of antarctica (Colubridae), the genus of real snakes (Natrix) and the species of water already (Natrix tessellata). Watery snake is a relatively large non-poisonous snake, like all representatives of this family. Moreover, females, as a rule, are longer than males and can grow up to 1.1 m. Despite its impressive size, it is slightly smaller than the usual and easily identifiable ordinary snake, which can reach 1.14 m.

The muzzle of a water snake, in comparison with an ordinary one, is more pointed, and there are no yellow-orange spots on the sides of the head. Because of the latter circumstance, he is often confused with venomous snakes such as the common viper and the steppe viper. “Oil into the fire” adds a picture on the back of a water snake, which vaguely resembles a zigzag strip of vipers. I have repeatedly come across dead snakes, which, most likely, the local population mistook for poisonous and mercilessly exterminated. In one of the expeditions, I met a place of "mass execution", where I counted 25 killed "chess vipers."

However, water already has a number of external signs by which it can be easily distinguished from poisonous vipers. The most recognizable head is that in vipers it is triangular in shape and most of the scutes (scales) on it are small, while in water snakes it is oval, and all scutes are large. If you take courage and look into the eyes of a snake, you can see that in vipers, like in real predators, the pupil is vertical (like in a cat), and in a snake - round. In addition, vipers are much smaller than snakes: the largest ordinary viper reaches a length of up to 0.73 m.

The water one already settles near the water: along the banks of rivers and irrigation canals, in flood meadows, where it finds food. Despite the peaceful nature, he is an active predator. Prefers fish of different species - perch, roach, loach, can even hunt pike. Therefore, scientists call it the ichthyophage. The snake pulls the caught prey to the shore, where it eats. Much less often in the diet includes frogs and their tadpoles.

There is information in the literature about the finding in the stomach of even a cub of an ordinary viper! The size of the victim may exceed the size of the head of the snake, and the mobile connection of the lower jaws and some bones associated with them helps to swallow it. Ingestion occurs by alternately moving the left or right half of the lower jaw. This gives the impression that the snake "creeps" into its prey.

The active season lasts almost 9 months, appearing from winter shelters in April. Soon after this, mating begins, then snakes are found in large numbers. One female can lay 4 to 20 eggs, of which in July, under favorable circumstances, young animals will appear. A refuge for them are reed beds, tree roots, clefts of the substrate, burrows of rodents, stumps and driftwood. They leave for the winter at the end of October in large groups, sometimes together with an ordinary snake. They hunt urchins, muskrat, muskrat, fox, some birds: osprey, gray heron, kites, snake-eater, crow, rook and some others. ”

Every time I hear mention of a “terribly poisonous chess”, I talk about water snakes, their lifestyle, I try to convince them that these snakes are absolutely not dangerous. But each time I come across a misunderstanding, it is easier for people to be afraid of a “chess viper” than to admit their faith in rumors and stop killing all snakes that are devoid of “identification marks” of an ordinary snake.

Water already - a close relative of an ordinary snake. It is more thermophilic and even more hygrophilous.

In terms of size, water is practically no different from ordinary. The largest known instance reached a total length of one and a half meters. In water snake somewhat differently than in ordinary, large SCREWS are located on the head. It is also different in color: it has no yellow spots on the back of the head, the pattern on the back is different, the ventral side is pink-red or orange-yellow. The general color background is greenish-gray or brownish; dark spots or narrow transverse stripes are usually staggered along it. Sometimes these spots form longitudinal stripes. There are monochromatic individuals (not having a pattern of spots) and even completely black - melanists.

Where do water snakes live?

In Europe, water is already found only in the south of its central and eastern parts. Distributed also in Central and Asia Minor, in the Caucasus, in the west of India and China. In Russia it is known from the South Volga and Ciscaucasia.

These snakes rarely live away from water. It is there that they spend the bulk of the activity season; found on the banks of ponds, lakes, streams, rivers and even seas. There are many of them in artificial canals, ditches, reservoirs, fish ponds. They prefer open, warm, stagnant or slowly flowing waters, but they also occur in fast cold mountain streams. In the mountains come across at heights of up to 3000 meters. As these snakes hunt in the water, they avoid muddy, polluted ponds. Their favorite places of rest are branches tilted above the water or flat stones on the banks. The snakes swim perfectly on the surface and in the water column, cope with a strong current, and sail up to five kilometers from the coast. In addition, the water climbs trees and bushes very well, often creeping into the crowns of near-water plants.

Water Snake Lifestyle

These snakes are active during daylight hours. At night, they take shelter under stones and other objects lying on the shore, in the burrows of other animals, in different cracks and indentations under the plants. They can hide in hay or dense vegetation. Large nocturnal clusters of snakes in reed beds are noted. On a cool morning, they are slow and bask in sunlit places. Having warmed up, go hunting for water. Well-fed, often rest in the sun. But they don’t like strong heat - they hide from it in thickets or in water.

Wintering season, water snakes spend on the shore - in the burrows of rodents, voids in the soil - at a considerable depth (up to 80 cm). Usually they hibernate singly or in small groups, but massive clusters of snakes have also been found - up to two hundred individuals of different sex and age. Such collective shelters are used by snakes year after year.

Breeding water urchins

Accumulations of these snakes can also form during the breeding season. In the spring, soon after leaving wintering, they sometimes move away from the reservoir and gather in groups of 150-200 individuals, where mating takes place. Marital behavior is the same as that of ordinary snake.

The female lays at the end of June-July from 6 to 25 eggs. Masonry is done under the stones, in a loose substrate. As with ordinary snake, collective clutches are formed in the most suitable places - up to a thousand eggs. Incubation lasts about two months, newborn snows immediately begin to catch small fish. They become sexually mature in the third year of life.

Water snakes also have an autumnal mating season, when they again move away from the water and can mate.

Fertilized eggs are laid next summer.

Water snakes have many natural enemies. He more often than ordinary snake becomes the prey of large fish and near-water birds.

Water Snake Nutrition

It feeds on water, mainly fish, which it catches in both fresh and sea water. For one hunt, it can swallow up to forty small (2-3 cm) fish, but it also catches larger fish - with a body length of up to 15 centimeters. This snake uses two tactics of hunting - either actively searches for, pursues and catches fish, or lies in wait for it and grabs in a throw; in case of an unsuccessful attack, lost production does not catch up. Tries to grab the victim by the middle of the body. Small fish are sometimes swallowed directly under water, with a larger one it is more difficult to manage. The problem is that he cannot kill or swallow a relatively large prey directly in the water: he needs firm support. Therefore, he comes ashore, firmly holding the fish in his mouth and lifting it above the water. Having caught on the back part of the body for some stone, he hardly pulls the beating victim onto the land, where he swallows it, and always from the head. It happens that a snake catches too large or wide fish (for example, crucian carp) that it cannot swallow, and then with such an effort the prey pulled ashore must be thrown. In addition to fish, they catch in the water frogs and toads, as well as their tadpoles. Occasionally, small mammals and birds eat snakes.

Eating a large number of small fish, water snakes can cause significant damage to fish farms, where they have to fight.

In case of danger, the waterman is already trying to hide in the water and lie low. Taken in hand, it gives off a fetid yellow liquid, just like an ordinary one.

Ecological Center "Ecosystem" can inexpensively  (at the cost of production) buy  (order by cash on delivery, i.e. without prepayment) our copyright teaching materials on zoology (invertebrates and vertebrates):
10   computer (electronic) qualifiers  including: pests of Russian forests, freshwater and migratory fish, amphibians (amphibians), reptiles (reptiles), birds, their nests, eggs and voices, and mammals (animals) and traces of their life,
20   colored laminated definition tables  including: aquatic invertebrates, day butterflies, fish, amphibians and reptiles, wintering birds, migratory birds, mammals and their traces,
4   pocket field qualifier  including: inhabitants of water bodies, birds of the middle strip and animals and their tracks, as well as
65   methodological benefits  and 40   educational of films  by techniques  conducting research work in nature (in the field).

  (Laurenti, 1768)
  (\u003d Coluber idrus Pallas, 1771, Coluber ponticus Guldenstadt, 1811, Colluber penttatus Menetrics, 1832, Tropidonotus tessellatus (Lanzcdi, 1768)

Appearance. Large  snake body length up to 1400 mm and about 5-6 times shorter tail. The most common sizes of sexually mature individuals are up to 800 mm in males and 980 mm in females. Head  flattened, muzzle suspended. Internasal shields  more or less triangular in shape. The suture between the intermaxillary and the first labial is much longer than the suture between the intermaxillary and internasal. Upper labial flaps are usually eight. There are two or three preorbital scutes (extremely rarely one); three or four (very rarely five) postorbital flaps. Around the body 19 scales. Abdominal flaps 162-189 - in males and 164-197 - in females; 60-86 sub-caudal in males and 47-70 in females. Scales, both trunk and tail, with highly developed ribs.

Coloring  the upper side of the body is olive, olive-gray, olive-greenish, olive-brown, brown or - very rarely - reddish-orange. A pattern of dark stains, more or less staggered, or of narrow dark transverse stripes on the back, very rarely the spots form two dark or solid stripes on the sides of the back, which also extend to the upper surface of the tail. A dark spot is often noticeable on the back of the head. The abdominal surface has a different color from yellowish to red with more or less rectangular black spots. Sometimes there are specimens without a drawing on the body or completely black.

Spread. Aquatic is already widespread from southwestern France, the Rhine Valley, and eastern North Africa in the west through central and southern Europe, Asia Minor, Western and Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and Pakistan in the south of central Asia (northwest China) in the east. In the Middle East it inhabits Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Nile Delta in Egypt, an isolated population in Yemen is known. In the European part of the former USSR, this snake is found in its eastern part, including the Black Sea coast in Russia and Ukraine, as well as Crimea. Water is already common in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, as well as in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. In Tajikistan, it is absent only in the Eastern Pamirs, in Turkmenistan it is found on the coast and on the islands of the Caspian Sea, in the valleys of the Sumbar and Atrek rivers, at small rivers and streams of Kopetdag and Kugitangtau, in the valleys of the Tejen, Murghab and Amu Darya rivers.

Habitat. Already its entire habitat, the water body is closely connected with water; its habitats are confined to the shores of various flowing and standing bodies of water, from muddy ditches rich in suspended particles to transparent mountain rivers and streams with a very strong current. This snake is also common in rice fields, on coasts and islands. So, in particular, in Turkmenistan water is already found mainly on the sea coasts of the Caspian Sea and on islands located in the open sea, as well as on coastal stripes of rivers, in canals irrigating cotton fields. On the eastern coast of the Caspian, their favorite places are limestone niches formed by the surf, flooded ships, barges, as well as stones near the sea. On the islands, the places of their greatest concentration are noted in areas overgrown with chinton or reed. Over the entire range of water snake, as follows from its species name, the presence of water bodies is a determining factor in the existence of this snake. In Tajikistan, it is found in tugai thickets, on irrigated lands occupied by alfalfa, cotton or vegetable gardens, on rocks, in mountain gorges in juniper forests and deciduous forests, in a semi-desert landscape, and also close to human habitation, but always at a distance of no more than 100 200 m from the water. The vertical distribution border in Turkmenistan in Kopetdag passes at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level, in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan it can rise up to 3000 m above sea level. The species is ordinary, in some places it can reach high numbers. Large clusters of water snakes can be observed in separate reservoirs in Central Asia, where, according to the records, the population numbers 8-10 thousand snakes in a section 3 km long and 25-30 m wide on the seashore. The high abundance on the Caspian coast with numerous calcareous niches formed by the surf is associated with an abundance of food supply, shelters and favorable places for breeding and wintering.

Activity.  After wintering in the southern areas of the range in Central Asia appears on. surface in March-April, activity continues until the end of October - November. Throughout the season, water snakes are active during the day. Most of the time is spent in water, swimming up to 3-5 km from the nearest land.

When danger occurs, the snakes usually take refuge in the water and hide at the bottom of the reservoirs.

Reproduction. Mating snakes takes place during April. Females lay eggs in late June - July. In the clutch there are 4-18 eggs measuring 15-16 x 32-35 mm. Young water snakes with a body length (without tail) of 140-185 mm appear on the surface in mid-August - early September.

Nutrition.  These snakes feed mainly on various fish, often climbing into fishing nets; minor food objects - frogs and toads; sometimes small rodents and birds come across in the diet.

Wintering.  As winter shelters use burrowing rodents located along the banks of water bodies. Water snakes hibernate both singly and, more often, in large clusters, often together with other snakes, often with ordinary snakes. Such clusters can number up to 200 snakes of different sex and age.

Similar species.   It differs from the ordinary snake by the peculiarities of coloring and pattern, the absence of yellow or orange spots on the sides of the head, as well as the number of preorbital and upper labial shields.

In the ecological center "Ecosystem" you can to get   color definition table " Amphibians and reptiles of central Russia"and the computer identifier of reptiles (reptiles) of Russia and the USSR, as well as other teaching materials on animals and plants of Russia  (see below).

On our site you can also find information on anatomy, morphology and ecology of reptiles: general characteristics of reptiles, integument, movement, and skeleton of reptiles, digestive and nutrition organs, respiratory and gas exchange organs, circulatory system and blood circulation, excretory organs and water-salt metabolism, genital organs and reproduction, nervous system and sensory organs, behavior and image life, the annual cycle of life,

Water already, or as it was popularly called “the chess viper” is often found in the neighborhood of ordinary snake and lives near both flowing and non-flowing reservoirs. His appearance on the beach quite often raises a real panic among vacationers. People immediately crawl out to land, and the fate of the troublemaker, alas, is sometimes unenviable. I suggest you find out some interesting facts about this snake.

Are you taking pictures of the viper? ”I heard a voice behind me.“ Look so that you don’t bite. ”

No, not a viper, but a snake, ”I answered, not looking up from the camera’s viewfinder and taking another close-up.

Yes, the vipers are now crossing with the snakes: it turns out both black and gray, and in the cell, and all terribly poisonous!

A similar dialogue happens every time someone sees me catch or photograph water snakes

The notoriety of these snakes is just the fruit of the fear of people who are not familiar with reptiles. Water snakes are devoid of the characteristic sign of a non-poisonous snake, familiar to everyone - yellow-orange spots in the back of the head, which are common snake (Natrix natrix). For this reason, unknowing people of all snakes without such spots are classified as vipers and are considered poisonous and dangerous. Many divide all legless reptiles into snakes and simply “snakes”, referring to vipers. So they say: "Is this really a snake?"

As soon as water snakes are not called: “a hybrid of a viper and a snake”, “a chess viper”, a “chess”. When screaming a “chess snake” on the beach, swimmers jump out of the water and wait for the snake to swim away, or until there is a “daredevil” and doesn’t kill the snake with a stick. Often you hear the stories of fishermen about "meter vipers" crossing rivers or climbing into cages with fish.

All these stories are not really connected with vipers, they are about water snakes. The species name of the snake N. tessellata is really translated from Latin as chess, but it has nothing to do with vipers. It belongs to the genus already (Natrix sp.) As well as ordinary already.

For humans, water is harmless. Remedies for this snake are loud hissing and fetid excrement released during danger. Unlike ordinary snake, water almost never pretends to be dead.

The main food of water snakes is fish, which they catch among aquatic plants, snags or trapping, lying at the bottom. The snake cannot swallow the caught prey under water, therefore it rushes to the shore, where it swallows the fish, having first turned its head to itself.

If the prey is too large, the meal can drag on for an hour or even longer. Some snakes die without calculating strength and choosing too large a fish.

“Water is already quite widespread: from southwestern France, the valley of the river. The Rhine in the west, the southern border of the range runs along the eastern part of northern Africa (to the Persian Gulf, Pakistan), in the east it occurs to the north-west of China, and the northern limits of the occupied territory pass through the Volga-Kama region, ”says the candidate of biological sciences, an employee Volgograd State University, herpetologist Dmitry Gordeev.

“This species belongs to the class of reptiles (Reptilia), the order of snakes (Serpentes), the family of antarctica (Colubridae), the genus of real snakes (Natrix) and the species of water already (Natrix tessellata). Watery snake is a relatively large non-poisonous snake, like all representatives of this family. Moreover, females, as a rule, are longer than males and can grow up to 1.1 m. Despite its impressive size, it is somewhat smaller than the usual and easily identifiable ordinary snake, which can reach 1.14 m.

The muzzle of a water snake, in comparison with an ordinary one, is more pointed, and there are no yellow-orange spots on the sides of the head. Because of the latter circumstance, he is often confused with venomous snakes such as the common viper and the steppe viper. “Oil into the fire” adds a picture on the back of a water snake, which vaguely resembles a zigzag strip of vipers. I have repeatedly come across dead snakes, which, most likely, the local population mistook for poisonous and mercilessly exterminated. In one of the expeditions, I met a place of "mass execution", where I counted 25 killed "chess vipers."

However, water already has a number of external signs by which it can be easily distinguished from poisonous vipers. The most recognizable head is that in vipers it is triangular in shape and most of the scutes (scales) on it are small, while in water snakes it is oval, and all scutes are large. If you take courage and look into the eyes of a snake, you can see that in vipers, like in real predators, the pupil is vertical (like in a cat), and in a snake - round. In addition, vipers are much smaller than snakes: the largest ordinary viper reaches a length of up to 0.73 m.

Water already settles near the water: along the banks of rivers and irrigation canals, in flood meadows, where it finds food. Despite the peaceful nature, he is an active predator. Prefers fish of different species - perch, roach, loach, can even hunt pike. Therefore, scientists call it the ichthyophage. The snake pulls the caught prey to the shore, where it eats. Much less often in the diet includes frogs and their tadpoles.

There is information in the literature about the finding in the stomach of even a cub of an ordinary viper! The size of the victim may exceed the size of the head of the snake, and the mobile connection of the lower jaws and some bones associated with them helps to swallow it. Ingestion occurs by alternately moving the left or right half of the lower jaw. This gives the impression that the snake "creeps" into its prey.

The active season lasts almost 9 months, appearing from winter shelters in April. Soon after this, mating begins, then snakes are found in large numbers. One female can lay 4 to 20 eggs, of which in July, under favorable circumstances, young animals will appear. A refuge for them are reed beds, tree roots, clefts of the substrate, burrows of rodents, stumps and driftwood. They leave for the winter at the end of October in large groups, sometimes together with an ordinary snake. They hunt urchins, muskrat, muskrat, fox, some birds: osprey, gray heron, kites, snake-eater, crow, rook and some others. ”

Every time I hear mention of a “terribly poisonous chess”, I talk about water snakes, their lifestyle, I try to convince them that these snakes are absolutely not dangerous. But each time I come across a misunderstanding, it is easier for people to be afraid of a “chess viper” than to admit their faith in rumors and stop killing all snakes that are devoid of “identification marks” of an ordinary snake.

More interesting topics in our group. CONTACT
Life Tricks