Cottonmouths are one of the hazards of growing up in a very rural area. Nothing builds character quite like traipsing through tall grass to get to your favorite swimmin' hole...and suddenly looking down to find that one of the pretty pink buttercups a foot from your feet HAS FANGS!!!
--TwoDragons
September 10, 2008
Anonymous said...
My brother was bit by a cottonmouth at the tender age of two. Dad, who's normally quite level-headed, went beserk and chopped the poor thing into 2-inch pieces before taking it in for questioning...I mean, identification. (My brother was fine; much better than Snakey, obviously.)
September 10, 2008
Anonymous said...
I've never come across one of these snakes in the wild (despite trying to catch every snake I saw as a kid.) The only possibiliy is if I saw a water moccasin, they are cowardly like all other snakes and flee from you. Snakes are ok. Snakes eating... that's kinda gross.
Cottonmouths (water moccasins) are not harmless snakes, and they are very aggressive. They were a fact of life when I was growing up in S. Texas, along with rattlesnakes. Flartus' brother might not have been bitten by a cottonmouth, there are other snakes that resemble them but aren't poisonous. If it was a cottonmouth, he is extremely lucky. Snakes are actually a very important part of the ecosystem, without them we would be up to our ears in rodents! We just need to leave certain snakes alone. I like snakes actually.
Amy, while traipsing about southeastern Oklahoma at a Nature Conservancy preserve, came across a mama cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus) and her brood (see the more colorful snakelings on the right).
Amy was wise to keep her distance. Cottonmouths are the only venomous aquatic snake in North America (they do most of their biting underwater), and are aggressive. They are pit vipers, related to the rattlesnake and the copperhead. Depending on who you listen to, they'll either bite you 1 in three times, or actively seek you out if you stumble into their territory. Regardless, the odds aren't good.
These snakes are also known as water moccasins. What's with the naming of vipers? Cotton, rattle, moccasin? Such benign terms to refer to such deadly animals.
7 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formAww I *LOVE* snakes! Look at the babies! See they have no arms or legs, making them much less threatening than evil spiders.
September 10, 2008
It's funny. I adore rattlesnakes. Cottonmouths can just--go away. Far away. Shoo. :|
September 10, 2008
Cottonmouths are one of the hazards of growing up in a very rural area. Nothing builds character quite like traipsing through tall grass to get to your favorite swimmin' hole...and suddenly looking down to find that one of the pretty pink buttercups a foot from your feet HAS FANGS!!!
--TwoDragons
September 10, 2008
My brother was bit by a cottonmouth at the tender age of two. Dad, who's normally quite level-headed, went beserk and chopped the poor thing into 2-inch pieces before taking it in for questioning...I mean, identification. (My brother was fine; much better than Snakey, obviously.)
September 10, 2008
I've never come across one of these snakes in the wild (despite trying to catch every snake I saw as a kid.) The only possibiliy is if I saw a water moccasin, they are cowardly like all other snakes and flee from you.
Snakes are ok. Snakes eating... that's kinda gross.
September 11, 2008
Cottonmouths (water moccasins) are not harmless snakes, and they are very aggressive. They were a fact of life when I was growing up in S. Texas, along with rattlesnakes. Flartus' brother might not have been bitten by a cottonmouth, there are other snakes that resemble them but aren't poisonous. If it was a cottonmouth, he is extremely lucky. Snakes are actually a very important part of the ecosystem, without them we would be up to our ears in rodents! We just need to leave certain snakes alone. I like snakes actually.
September 12, 2008
Thanks Denita TwoDragonsn for providing us information about Cottonmouths.
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brianna
A.H. Infosource</a
September 12, 2008