The species, which is mildly venomous and rear-fanged, is endemic to Kerala, in southwestern India.

[2] Both the specific name, dussumieri, and the common name, Dussumier's water snake, are in honor of Jean-Jacques Dussumier, a French merchant, ship owner, and collector of zoological specimens.

D. dussumieri is endemic to coastal plains of southwestern India, in Kerala state.

This species has been sighted in inundated rice paddies, flooded crop fields and is very much at home in lakes and swamps.

It feeds mostly on fishes and takes refuge in crab-holes on mud banks and other such safe retreats near water bodies.