I concur that it is a hognose snake. They are not doing too well anymore (many ground nesting snakes are declining) so it's nice to see them!

If you have a snake like the one in the picture above, they are a problem for your pond. There poop and oil based skin will leave foam on top of the water, and they will definitely "try" and eat your fish. I have Koi. For anyone else who does knows they are not cheap. My biggest "Snoopy" I found dead this morning with little teeth marks above it's fin, bleeding. To me, this means that the snake will brake the laws of nature and try to eat something 10x it's size. It looks as if it realized it was to big and left him there to die. At $100 to 300 dollars a fish, this I can not stand for. I have yet to catch the snake but I dropped some moth balls by my rose marry, where I first saw the snake, to hopefully repeal. I doubt they'll work. Seems all I have left to do is catch and dispose of. Google really comes in handy now adays about anything you need to know about anything. So google snake trap or pest control for the bigger snakes. Hope this helps! I leave more feedback if I ever am able to get ahold of the snake.

Well, if you are going to just use the 2.5 acre pond to "fill" your garden pond it won't be too big of an issue. However, if it is going to continually be used to power the waterfall etc (IE a big loop) you will infact be filtering the ENTIRE 2.5 acre pond. I doubt that would be effective, or cost efficient. I think you need to have 2 systems both closed off from one another.

Few things here: Wayne- In the Spartanburg area, you have intergrade midlandxnorthern watersnakes - although based on personal experience they appear to be much more northern in appearance and lack the brighter coloration of midlands. N. fasciata are not found in the piedmont. Anne - Both of those snakes in the photograph you showed are actually Eastern Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) - though the one one the right has more vivid stripes, it is just exhibiting some of the extreme pattern variability that gartersnakes have. Ribbon snakes are much thinner, the stripes are more bold and they lack the extra lateral mottling that you can clearly see in the photograph. John (PA) - Its pretty likely that the snake you had swim between your legs was a Nerodia (Watersnake). The behavior and everything you described add up to Nerodia. I have never heard of copperheads feeding in the manner you described but it is typical of watersnakes. Large watersnakes often have pretty wide heads that you describe as "spade-like" 1sst - I was thinking milk snake as well. I saw a good number of these when I lived in Greenville and they do occasionally venture near ponds. I ran into several juveniles while out on frog walks in the middle of the night during spring rains. A few possibilities (non-exclusive) based on color mainly, since most snakes will enter or go near water during times of heat/drought which is being experienced in SC right now: milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon) corn snake (Pantherophis guttata) eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos)