Water moccasin!

[Darrell KSR]

This isn't my neighborhood, but it's close and friends live there. Killed today.

ForumRunner_20140524_214005.jpg

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forum Runner

[CitizenBBN]

Pic is too small for me to be able to tell, but I'll take their word for it.

[suncat05]

It appears to be about an average sized snake. Most of the ones that I kill down here right on the Lake are a lot fatter than that one, but I am pretty sure that food is very plentiful down here, and all year because we don't have much, if any, cold weather to keep them inactive like you guys do have up there in Alabama. But still, decent sized moccasin.

[Darrell KSR]

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[CitizenBBN]

Like I said I'll take their word for it, but I'd need to see the head to be sure. Cottonmouths have that distinctive flat, angular head (and smaller neck) of a poisonous snake. They are also pretty thick compared to other snakes and like suncat said this one doesn't look terribly thick.

Not that I'm dying to see it or anything, but to ID it as a cottonmouth/moccasin that's the only way I can really tell, not being a very experienced snake guy who can just spot them by general look. They are banded but one that big I'd expect to be darker, but you can't always go by coloration with them. Very rude if you ask me.

[PedroDaGr8]

e1ae5bd7d8484e806318a7bc6ed5cd1f06b8f759af0a264c9ccf19e276d181df.jpg

[suncat05]

It appears to me to be a cottonmouth, albeit not a very big one, as I stated earlier. Most of the ones I see down here are very fat, and very dark, although some do tend to have a bit more of a 'pattern' of pigmentation than others. But most of the ones I see and kill are almost entirely black, or so dark that they appear to be mostly black.

[CitizenBBN]

That's what made me question it suncat. usually a cottonmouth that big is older and they usually get blacker as they age. They are also thicker their entire lives than other water snakes, with shorter tails that trail off rather quickly.

I'm no snake expert, that could be a cottonmouth for sure and I'm just way off, but the little I know about them this one isn't what I'd prototypically expect of one so big. The head is the giveaway, they definitely have that angular head of other north american poisonous snakes. Personally I don't intend to get close enough to any to use that method of identification though unless they're good and dead.

[Lfbj00]

e1ae5bd7d8484e806318a7bc6ed5cd1f06b8f759af0a264c9ccf19e276d181df.jpg

I LOVE SNAKES!! They've fascinated me since I was a kid.

[blueboss]

babyrat.jpg

Here's a rat snake which the markings look eerily similar.

[dan_bgblue]

babyrat.jpg

Here's a rat snake which the markings look eerily similar.

If I were a betting man, I would place my money on this identification

[CitizenBBN]

Me too dan, short of seeing the head up pretty close (which is solid but not a good way to ID the live ones).

the few full size cottonmouths that I've ever seen had gotten so black you could barely tell they had a pattern, which is consistent with suncat's experience in two different climate zones. Like you can see in that rat snake picture, even the head isn't a dead giveaway, at least not to me, at a distance.

Snakes and Dookies, they all look alike to me.

[KeithKSR]

Skinny for a cottonmouth. Venomous snakes in the US tend to be more chunky than non-poisonous varieties.

[blueboss]

Skinny for a cottonmouth. Venomous snakes in the US tend to be more chunky than non-poisonous varieties.

They tend to eat better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[suncat05]

Yes, they do tend to eat better, especially down here in this climate. Lots of prey running about. Most of the cottonmouth snakes I see here are usually between 4-5 feet long, very dark, and usually very thick around the middle. And aggressive. They will come straight at you, just very menacing.
The largest one I have ever seen was right here near my house, just off the canal going into the Lake and the Caloosahatchie River. I saw this one from my kitchen window, laying out on the asphalt in the late afternoon sun. I grabbed my .38 special loaded with snakeshot and went right out to him. I have to admit, he was beautiful, but between my dogs and the other dogs that residents bring down into the park here, I had to kill him. After I shot him, I stretched him out and measured him with a tape measure. He was just a tad over 6 feet long, had huge fangs, and was very heavy. This 'ol boy had been eating good, just as big and fat as could be. But he had to go, way too many family dogs and kids around.
Kids, dogs, and poisonous snakes do not mix well.

[KeithKSR]

They tend to eat better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Plenty to eat in the marshy water they like.

[blueboss]

Plenty to eat in the marshy water they like.

I imagine that venomous snakes that strike like cottonmouths and rattlers have a much higher kill rate %.

[suncat05]

I imagine that venomous snakes that strike like cottonmouths and rattlers have a much higher kill rate %.

Yes, probably. I would think any of the pit vipers or constrictor type snakes are usually consistent winners in the food chain game.

[KeithKSR]

babyrat.jpg

Here's a rat snake which the markings look eerily similar.

Looks more like a rat snake, or maybe a milk snake, than a water mocassin.

http://www.dcnr.state.al.us/watchabl...ottonmouth.cfm

[blueboss]

All in all I think the cottonmouth would be best used on a white stetson.