Dice snake
Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768)
The dice snake (Natrix tessellata), also called the Tessellated water snake, is a snake in the family Colubridae and subfamily Natricinae. It is a small snake with a representative adult body mass of 384 g, and its main foods are amphibia and fish.
Quick facts about the dice snake
Its eggs have an incubation period of 34 days, and our sources give 15 young per litter or eggs per clutch. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 384 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 1 m – 1.3 msrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 2.5 years – 2.7 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Main food
- amphibia, fishsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Egg incubation
- 34 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 15src for Young per litter or clutch
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the dice snake?
Photos of the dice snake
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the dice snake live?
Not recorded
What is the dice snake?
The dice snake (Natrix tessellata) or water snake is a Eurasian nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae, subfamily Natricinae. Its average length is 1.0–1.3 m (39–51 in). Body 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.
From the Wikipedia article “Dice snake” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dice_snake&oldid=1327795572), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the dice snake endangered?
The dice snake is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the dice snake classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyColubridae
- genusNatrix
- SpeciesNatrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768)
Synonyms Coluber elaphoides, Coluber gabinus, Coluber griseus, Coluber hydrophylus, Coluber hydrus, Coluber idrus, Coluber muravievii, Coluber penttatus, Coluber ponticus, Coluber reticulatus, Coronella tessellata, Enhydris caspia, Natrix dubbiosii, Natrix dunni, Natrix hydrus var. immaculata, Natrix tessellata albo, Natrix tessellata tessellata, Natrix tessellata var. albo-lineata, Natrix tessellata var. cyreni, Natrix tessellata var. flavescens, Natrix tessellata var. gaydai, Natrix torquata var. nigriscens, Tropidonotus elaphoides, Tropidonotus gracilis, Tropidonotus tantalus, Tropidonotus tessellatus, Tropidonotus tessellatus heinrothi, Tropidonotus tessellatus laurenti, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. concolor, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. decipiens, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. flavescens, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. hagenbecki, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. lineaticollis, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. nigerrima, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. rubromaculosus, Tropidonotus tessellatus var. sparsus, Tropidonotus tessellatus vosseleri
Other names and names in other languages (46)
- Tessellated water snakeEnglish
- Tessellated water snakeEnglish
- ثعبان النردArabic
- حنش الماءArabic
- نطريق مشطرجArabic
- SuilaniAzerbaijani
- Сива водна змияBulgarian
- užovka podplamatáCzech
- RudesnogDanish
- WürfelnatterGerman
- ΛιμνόφιδοGreek
- Serpiente de DadosSpanish
- Culebra de dadosSpanish
- noppakäärmeFinnish
- Couleuvre tesselléeFrench
- Couleuvre tessellée (La)French
- נחש מים משובץHebrew
- נחש-מים משובץHebrew
- ribaricaCroatian
- kockás siklóHungarian
- Ջրային լորտուArmenian
- natrice tassellataItalian
- ダイススネークJapanese
- Zkhlis AnkaraGeorgian
- 주사위뱀Korean
- РибаркаMacedonian
- Змија рибаркаMacedonian
- DobbelsteenslangDutch
- DambordslangDutch
- zaskroniec rybołówPolish
- Cobra-dadoPortuguese
- Sarpe de apaRomanian
- Водяной ужRussian
- Vodyanoi UzchRussian
- užovka fŕkanáSlovak
- KobrankaSlovenian
- РибарицаSerbian
- Речна змијаSerbian
- rutsnokSwedish
- Mori ObiTajik
- Su YılanıTurkish
- Damalı su yılanıTurkish
- Sucul YılanTurkish
- Водяний вужUkrainian
- Вуж водянийUkrainian
- 棋斑水游蛇Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the dice snake
Other species in the same genus Natrix.
Grass snake
Natrix natrix
Viperine snake
Natrix maura
Grass snake
Natrix helvetica
Iberian grass snake
Natrix astreptophora
CompareDice snake vs Grass snakeDice snake vs Viperine snakeDice snake vs Grass snakeDice snake vs Iberian grass snake
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the dice snake?
The dice snake is a reptile, a snake in the family Colubridae, subfamily Natricinae and genus Natrix.
What does the dice snake eat?
Its main foods are amphibia and fish.
How heavy is the dice snake?
Its representative adult body mass is 384 g, which places it in the small size class (10 g to 1 kg).
How long does the dice snake live?
Our sources give a lifespan of 2.5 years, with values up to 2.7 years reported.
How long are Dice snake eggs incubated?
The egg incubation period is 34 days, and our sources give 15 young per litter or eggs per clutch.
Who named the dice snake?
Its scientific name, Natrix tessellata, is attributed to (Laurenti, 1768).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Dice snake (Natrix tessellata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dice-snake
“Dice snake (Natrix tessellata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dice-snake.
@misc{dice_snake_2026,
title = {Dice snake (Natrix tessellata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dice-snake},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}