Rainbow Snake vs. Mudsnake

The two Farancia: big, glossy, smooth-scaled swamp snakes with a spine at the tip of the tail. The Mudsnake hunts sirens and amphiumas, the Rainbow Snake eels. A: Three red stripes along the glossy black back, one down the middle and one on each side in the Rainbow Snake; plain glossy blue-black, no stripes in the Mudsnake. B: Yellow to red belly with two (sometimes three) rows of black spots; the sides black in the Rainbow Snake; red or pink belly whose colour runs up the sides as bars or triangles, checkered with black in the Mudsnake. Neither bites; both press the harmless tail spine against a hand. In Maryland only the Rainbow Snake is found.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

• Mudsnake vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Black Swampsnake vs. Mudsnake

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