dice snake (Natrix tessellata)

Dice Snake Dice snake is a water-snake - it lives and hunts in the water. so what better place to hunt, than fish-ponds where people are growing goldfish for aquariums?
the orange spots in the water are the baby goldfish. in the pond we saw quite a lot of snakes. Geotagged,Israel,Natrix tessellata,Summer,dice snake

Appearance

Females are bigger than males. Maximum size is 1.0-1.3 m (39-51 inches) long. The color may vary from greyish green to brownish or almost black, with dark spots on the back. The belly is sometimes vividly coloured in yellow or orange, with black spots, very similar to dice, hence the name.

Dice snake capturing a fish Dice snake - Natrix tessellata Animalia,Central Macedonia,Chordata,Colubridae,Dice snake,Europe,Geotagged,Greece,Lake Kerkini National Park,Natrix tessellata,Reptilia,Spring,Squamata,Wildlife,dice snake

Naming

Synonyms
Coronella tessellata Laurenti, 1768
Coluber tessellatus Bonnaterre, 1790
Tropidonotus tessellatus, part., Wagler, 1830
Natrix tessellata Bonaparte, 1834
Tropidonotus tessellatus Boulenger, 1893

Dice snake Dice snake in the alpenzoo in Austria.

Dutch name: Dobbelsteenslang Alpenzoo,Austria,Geotagged,Natrix tessellata,dice snake

Distribution

The dice snake is found throughout Europe and Asia:
Lebanon, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, China, Macedonia.

Day1 Geotagged,Greece,Natrix tessellata,Summer,dice snake

Behavior

Living mainly near river streams or lakes, it frequently feeds on fish. Sometimes it feeds also on amphibians like frogs, toads and tadpoles.

This snake is not venomous. As a defense it spreads a very bad smelling secretion from its cloaca. Another defence mechanism is thanatosis, meaning playing dead.

During the mating season (March–April–May) they congregate in large groups. Egg laying is usually in July, and one clutch consists of 10-30 eggs. The young snakes hatch in early September.

Dice snakes hibernate from October to April in dry holes near the water.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Animalia
Division	Chordata
Class	Reptilia
Order	Squamata
Family	Colubridae
Genus	Natrix
Species	N. tessellata

Photographed in
Armenia
Austria
Greece
Israel