Swamp Snakes

In the Nightshade Chronicles series book two, The White Assassin, the rats of the Catacombs formed an uneasy allaince with the swamp snakes of the southern swamps to thwart Billycan's plans to overrun Nightshade City with savage swamp rats.

About Swamp Snakes
''Seminatrix is a genus  of colubrid  snakes . There is a single species  in the genus, the  swamp snake ( Seminatrix pygaea) with three subspecies. Swamp snakes are found in the states of North Carolina , South Carolina , Georgia , Alabama , and Florida  on the east coast of the United States . They prefer swampland habitat that is heavily vegetated. Swamp snakes are almost entirely aquatic. They spend most of their time hiding among dense vegetation in tannic  cypress swamps. They feed on small fish <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, tadpoles <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, frogs <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, salamanders <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, sirens <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, amphiunas <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, and invertebrates <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, such as leeches  <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">and  earthworms<span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">. Seminatrix<span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;"> are ovoviviparous <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;">, giving birth to live young directly in shallow water. Unlike many snakes, female  Seminatrix<span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;"> feed actively while gravid, suggesting that they may pass nutrients directly on to the young. Broods of 11 to 13 have been observed. <span style="font-size:14.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:17.9200000762939px;"> Newborns are 11–14 cm (4¼-5⅜ in.). ''