What type of snake is this..?

Question

about 2 foot long.

swimming in a lake.

chocolate brown with with dark brown X's on its back.

Answer 1

It would help to know where you live. But that description matches both a diamondback water snake and a brown water snake, depending on where you live. Both are harmless and eat fish and frogs. Diamondbacks are found from Texas to Alabama, north to Missouri and Illinois. Brown water snakes are found from Alabama and Florida north to Virginia.

Diamondback water snake: http://www.houstonherp.com/DiamondbackWS...

Brown water snake: http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/nerta...

Answer 2

Yep.  Mad. already covered this one.  Sounds like a harmless water snake.

But when posting a query; its very helpful if you include region it was spotted, and the state you live in.

Live and let live, and when in doubt - avoid!

Answer 3

im not sure but i will say in the USA snake that has stripes going from head to tail its not venomous and if its going side to side (like the X's) its most likly venomous so i say dont mess with it but if you have kids and its where they play kill it or call animal control i hate for a kid or you or any human to get bit