[Uncle Buck]

Heard that even if they are not provoked they will come after you if near by. Is this true of the Cotton Mouth Water Moccasin?

Read once that they range starting around Jamestown, VA and South.


Remember fishing at Ft Sill, Okla. A large water snake trying to get into my minnow bucket laying in the water at the bottom of the dock we ere fishing on. often wondered was it or was it not a Cotton Mouth. Should have looked inside it's mouth for all the cotton.

Heard if bitten all the nerves and tissue around the bite area just dies. Interesting thing those Cotton mouths?

[Hands]

I don't trust them, nor like them. They're mostly bad about going after you when they're mating (season). Any other time, they won't chase you down, but, if you step too close, they will bite you. They're real agressive. Ornery. Down right mean.
I shoot/beat down/kill every one I see. Mean lil buggers.

And yeah, and what's so bad is...with a ratlesnake, you got a 50-50 chance on whether or not he decided to inject venom in you. With cotton mouths, you can bank on it!

[Mongojoe]

Don't know... Never gave them the chance to find out...... A couple of nites ago my wife, daughter and son in law and I were nite fishing... The kids were out from the bank about 15 yards or so in a small paddle boat and hanging a "fishing lite" over the side into the water... My wife and I were on the bank. We saw a small moccasin a few feet out in the water with the lite from our lantern, but just figured we'd leave him alone if he would afford us the same courtesy... Well, about 10 or 15 minutes later I went to put on another minnow, and I knew from experience to ALWAYS look into the minnow bucket BEFORE sticking my hand in... Well, I picked up the flashlite and that little mossican was about 3 feet from my feet, and heading toward the minnow bucket... A couple of judiciously applied soccor-ball sized sandstones, followed by kicking him back into the water, solved the problem..... I have nothing aginst poisonous snakes...but I'd just as soon they stayed away from me.

[mikejr]

One of my favorite quotes is, ‘‘snakes are first cowards, then bluffers, and last of all warriors.’’
It can be applied to most people too.

In my experience, Cottonmouths get away fast - similar to water snakes, they see you they head to the water and disappear.

I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel (I think), and they had a warm, fake hand that they were using to pick up various venemous snakes. The Cottonmouth could be agressively handled without biting, a rattlesnake struck after a being squeezed, and a Copperhead struck several times upon being touched.

What they did not disclose is the ambient temperature while these "experiments" where being conducted. A Cottonmouth picked up on a cool 55* morning will obviously respond differently when handled at 75*. But we're left to conclude that the Cottonmouth is one of the least agressive venemous snakes in the US, which is consistent with most findings.

A quick note on venemous snakes in the US, they are MUCH thicker than their non-venemous cousins with the exception of the coral snake.

• A 3ft Copperhead will easily be thicker around the middle that a seven foot black snake. This isn't as pronounced in juveniles, but becomes most obvious with adult specimens.
  
  Copperhead(young) Aprox 16" *Note the pupils
  
  
  Cottonmouth Aprox 16"
  
  
  Water Snake Aprox 16" *Note the pupils
  
  
• They have "cat" pupils, or vertical slit eyes (does not apply to coral snakes)
  
  
• They appear to float on the water when swimming
  Cottonmouth
  
  Watersnake
  
  
• The scales near the tail on the underside continue single after the anus, on a non-venemous snake they will be double scales(side by side)Picture

Obviously the last critera should only be used to identify dead snakes. One last note, if you are the type to kill snakes - and you suspect it is venemous, remove the head before handling the carcass. Most venemous snakes can retain a strike reflex for hours after they've been killed, and they're no longer budgeting their venoum.


For a significantly more detailed look at Cottonmouth aggression, have a look at the attachment.