A small cottonmouth, aka water moccasin, lazes on the leaning trunk of a wax myrtle. Cottonmouths are lousy climbers so they prefer leaning trunks and branches that are low to the water. Usually, if you see a "moccasin" up in a tree it is one of the non-venomous water snakes. And no, they do not try to jump in your boat. Rather, when a water snake is disturbed its natural tendency is to head into the water. If you have your boat positioned between the snake and the water, then yeah, it's gonna land in your boat!
Just beneath the little fellow that was hanging out in the shrub, there was another much larger cottonmouth taking a drink at the edge of the water. We saw a total of five cottonmouths within just a few hundred feet of each other.
Yeah, it's a snaky kinda place :)
Just beneath the little fellow that was hanging out in the shrub, there was another much larger cottonmouth taking a drink at the edge of the water. We saw a total of five cottonmouths within just a few hundred feet of each other.
Yeah, it's a snaky kinda place :)
Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus
2 comments:
Swampy- Triangle shaped head, oval shaped eyes equals venemous right? I think I remember what you've said in previous blogs. Maineiac
Maineiac,
Most of the venomous snakes have a triangular shape to their heads but the real indicator for the three venomous snakes we have in our area are the elliptical pupils -- but that is a regional thing. There are venomous snakes with round pupils (coral snakes in southern NC, for example) and there are some non-venomous ones with elliptical pupils (boas in the western US, for example).
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