Ok, I was out geocaching this weekend and came across this snake:



At first I thought it was just some version of a king snake since it was a dark black. But as you can see in the picture, the flash revealed some reddish-brown striping patterns...this lead me to think that it was possibly a cotton mouth. So since I did not want to get bitten by one of these while I was miles from the nearest person, I decided to stop poking it with a stick and move on...just in case.

I know that we had a previous snake thread a week or two ago and it did not take long for people to determine what it was (and there was nothing but a vague description). So I am hope to have similar luck with this one. Thanks in advance

 

can't tell for sure from the picture, but it looks like a copperhead. Cottonmouths tend to have jaged borders between the stripes (like Charlie Brown's shirt). Copperheads have smooth edges between the bands. Picture looks like the bands are smooth, but I can't tell for sure. It'd be pretty dark for a copperhead though...

 

My guess would be an old Cotton Mouth.
The cross banding is easy to see in the young ones but, as the snake ages the stripes fade and it is often mistaken for a King snake.

If you had a long enough stick, you could have poked at it until you got it to open up it's mouth, then you would have known for sure.

You probably did the right thing to just go on about your business and let it remain a mystery for all ages.

 

Looks cotton mouth'ish to me too...

Nice to see another cacher on the boards!

 

I am pretty sure it was not a copperhead...Like I said, it looked black, and the banding did not show up until the flash went off. All the copperhead I have encountered have always been tan or a brown coloring...if this happened to be a copperhead, it is definitely the darkest one I have ever seen.

 

Well you didn't smash it's head in with a rock, so it's not a good snake yet!

AHHHG :shivers:

Those are all nasty creatures!

 

Looks like a cottonmouth to me. It's to dark to be a copperhead.

 

I'm gonna have to say: Cotton Mouth or Water Moccasin (Same thing)

Those are typically aggressive- so I'm surprise you're not connected to an anti-venom IV after poking it with a stick.

------------------------

True story-

I almost got bitten by one in the 8th grade. I was helping my step-dad clear off the reminants of a wooden deck that we'd destroyed a month or so earlier and piled up awaitign a friend with a truck/trailer so we could haul it off..

After school one day Kent and my step dad showed up w/truck & trailer and we started cleaning it off. Darkness was beginning to set in (6:00 - 6:30) as I moved to pick up one of the last boards. Just then, my step dad's friend told me to freeze which I did ironically- my hand not 2 feet from "the piece of wood" I was about to pick up.

He said- "There's a snake right there." I said Where? he said "Right there". My eyes were wide open, surveying the ground, and I saw nothing, nothing but wood, and dirt. He pushed me out of the way, and after I recovered and rejoined the two of them I could clearly see him now- mouth wide open, and snow white now (Freshly agitated). My step dad's friend picked up a hoe, and handed my step-dad the Kayser-Blade. Kent chopped him, and step-dad went to work on him. (Touchdown)

Humans 6 : Cotton Mouth 0

The snake was an ashy, sandy color with dark spots... It made him look like a wet piece of wood with dirt on it...

Whats ironic is this was the spring of the year (Still had about 30 days until school was out); you never hear mention of snakes this early- and my dogs were chained to the garage, not 10 feet from that pile of rubble... I guess I'm lucky my dog hadn't been killed by the snake.... No telling how long he'd been in there, I'd mown that area and everything...

It's scary as hell to know I was inches away from serious injury, possible hand/arm amputation or maybe even death- and even with 20/20 vision and my eyes wide open- I didn't see him there- coiled and ready to strike.

I guess all three of us are lucky because we'd all picked wood up all around him; I was just about to get one of the last 2-3 pieces... The way I was bending, I would have gotten it anywhere from my hand up my arm to the face.

I DO NOT MISS LIVING IN THE COUNTRY

You were guaranteed to get at least one snake visit a year, being so close to the Mississippi River, and all those wet lands...

Best bet: leave Jake alone- as long as he's not trying to get in your house or isn't chilling out on your property.

 

Respectfully speaking; I think ya'll are incorrect in identifying that snake. It's too slender and supple to be a Cottonmouth and it's too large/long to be a Copperhead.

I think you were on to it when you first thought of a King snake. That could be a color variation of one or it could be a local variety of a Rat snake. In any case, when not sure(I use to collect snakes in and around the Everglades as a teenager and have caught and kept scores of them.), you did the best thing and that is to leave it alone. Btw, if it weren't for snakes, we'd be over-run with rodents and starvation would be a possibility....and no, I don't belong to or like peta in fact, I hate them but snakes have a place in our existence.

Dan

 

Granted, it stayed in that semi-curled position the same time, but I would say that it was somewhere around 2-2.5' long and the "thickest" it was would be close to 2-2.5" diameter.

I grew up catching snakes as well, but that was in an area that only rattlers were the ones to worry about...the last thing I want is to be bitten by something that would knock me out. The limited times I poked it, it did not move much...so I snapped a picture, went for a larger stick...and when I came back, he was gone...so I left as well.

 

I love living in the country but snakes and I DO NOT get along at all.
Black snakes or other king snakes I ussally leave alone to help the cats get mice plus they keep the other poisonus snakes away. I dont have chickens so they don't bother anything of mine.

Best snake story I have:
About 6-8 years ago I was helping my uncle do some work on an old wooden bridge that was on his ranch. The Bridge took you from the club house or the pool house to the main house. It went over a small, very small creek. Ankle deep average but it would swell to way over your head when it rained, the creek walls were about 12' almost straight up and down, and about a 30' span, so he needed the bridge. As we were tearing out the old rotten one we uncovered a small Water Mocasin nest. If you haven't figured it out by now I am deathly afraid of snakes. I jumped up and ran about 20 yards away! I start to go to the truck and was going to get my 10/22. I was prepared to use a full box of shells until every last one of those suckers were dead! My uncle calmy says, "Naw save your shells son, we may need them later." I was like: WTF Mate??? I think we need them NOW!
This 80 + year old man shakes his head and tells me to hold the dogs. He walks over to this mangled mess of scales, reaches down and snaps one up by the tail, then whips it like a bull whip, he then throws it aside. He did this until they were all gone. There was just a pile of snakes squirming around from nerves because thier necks had been broken. (Note: that even a decpatitated head of a snake can still bite for 24 hours after death from nerves.) So they were still a danger just a more controled danger now. After he had snapped all of thier necks he walked over to his truck, got a can of chainsaw gas, poured on them, lit it on fire and started pileing all of the old lumber from the bridge on top of them.
It was the most awesome feat I have ever see any man do! Especially awesome when you consider his age. I didn't even know that he could intentionally move that fast.
I sure do miss those times.
Aside from that and a few other times like that, that I was in physical danger there. Then it was the best place to hang out even if it was just swiming in the pool at the club house.
RIP Uncle Bill.

 

There you go again Matt.

Can you say: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

You t and CIA type more then anyone on this site.

Anyway, it's hard to tell what kind of snake that is in the picture....lighting isn't that good.

Maybe this will help:

Snakes

 

It looks like a Western Water Snake, they look almost exactly like a Cottonmouth, except that they are not as fat and do not have the diamond shaped head. I can't tell for sure from the pic, but I would say that it is one or the other. I am leaning toward the Water snake because normally if you poke a Cottonmouth they will poke back. The water snake is much more dosscile.

Joe

 

Here is a good place to help identify snakes. AGFC Snakes You might be able to find your snake here.

Joe

 

Yea eventually I'm going to have to get off of here and return to my life so I can get more stories to tale. If not then I'm going to run out of stories soon.