Northern Water Snake

Northern Water Snake by Brian*MC

The Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sometimes also known as Natrix sipedon) is a large, non-venomous, well-known snake in the Colubridae family that is native to North America. They are active during the day and at night. They are most often seen basking on rocks, stumps, or brush.

During the day, they hunt among plants at the water's edge, looking for small fish, frogs, worms, leeches, crayfish, salamanders, small birds and mammals. At night, they concentrate on minnows and other small fish sleeping in shallow water. It was once an endangered species but now benefits from the introduction of round goby, an invasive species.

Western Green Mamba

Western Green Mamba by Laura Bertola

The western green mamba or West African green mamba (Dendroaspis viridis) is a long, thin venomous arboreal snake native to West Africa, including Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire. It has large green scales outlined in black, and grows up to two meters in length. The scales on its long tail are yellow and edged in black.

It is mostly diurnal, but may be active at night as well. Its habitat is the rainforest. Its natural prey includes birds, lizards, and mammals. Two very close relatives of the Western green mamba are the Eastern green mamba, and the Black mamba.