Meet the Seldom Seen Brazos Water Snake

It took a few tries but Lady Luck was finally with us: Brazos water snake. It has been many years now since Kenny and I decided to look for, and actually did find, the two Texas water snakes that were then considered subspecies of the Harter’s water snake. These, then, were the Brazos water snake, N. harteri harteri, and the Concho water snake, N. harteri paucimaculata. Although of questionable validity studies have since elevated the 2 one time subspecies to full species. At the time we sought these snakes we both lived in Florida so the initial distance between home and Palo Pinto County, TX was, shall we say, significant. Kenny is great at ferreting out valid locales for the taxa that we hope to photograph, but on the first attempt the water snakes did not cooperate. We searched upstream and downstream from a number of the riffles where they had formerly been seen. No water snakes—not even the rather common diamond-backed water snakes. We did find dozens of taxa to photograph on that trip but the target species was not among them. But some months later, on the second trip, Kenny’s diligence paid off. On that occasion one of the rock-edged riffles disclosed its serpentine treasure and photos of the Brazos water snake were added to our library. Next try would be for the Concho water snake. More photos under the jump.

These 2 Brazos water snakes were maintained under permit by a Florida veterinarian.