# Dice snake (*Natrix tessellata*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/dice-snake  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

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. 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.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 90.3 g – 384 g |
| Length | 73.1 cm |
| Lifespan | 2.5 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 2.7 years |
| Main food | amphibia, fish |
| Habitat | desert, shrubland |
| Egg incubation | 34 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 6 – 15 |
| Age at maturity | 3 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Active | Day and night (cathemeral) |
| Lifestyle | Aquatic |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Reptilia
- order: Squamata
- family: Colubridae
- genus: Natrix
- species: *Natrix 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*

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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).
- [ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4), CC BY 4.0, v1-2. Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
- [SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b), CC0 1.0, 1.0-dryad-v5. Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Dice snake (Natrix tessellata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dice-snake