Gary Helm
"A Snake By Any Other Name"
North America's only venomous water snake, the Eastern Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) and the Florida Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti) are large heavy-bodied venomous snakes. This snake has two names and cottonmouth is the more appropriate one and more widely used. This name is given because when the snake is threatened it will open its mouth and the lining of the mouth is cotton white. The other name is used since it lives near on in water and the skin feels like moccasin leather. The Eastern Cottonmouth has a brown to olive-brown background with dark cross bands. When they get older they often lose their coloration, and will become solid black. Florida Cottonmouth looks very similar to an Eastern but is usually a lot darker. One big difference is that the have two dark vertical bards on each side of the nose. The babies look a lot like baby copperheads and can be hard to distinguish. They also have the yellow tip to. Both subspecies average length is between 3ft to 4ft long. The maximum record for both subspecies was 7ft 2in.
I found this slightly shorter version of a Florida Cottonmouth on the road to my camp sight at Dinner Island Ranch, in Hendry County, Florida.
It didn't take much for it to cop an attitude with me, and show me why it is called A Cottonmouth. I took a few shots, and let it go on its way in "Peace".
"A Snake By Any Other Name"
North America's only venomous water snake, the Eastern Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) and the Florida Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus conanti) are large heavy-bodied venomous snakes. This snake has two names and cottonmouth is the more appropriate one and more widely used. This name is given because when the snake is threatened it will open its mouth and the lining of the mouth is cotton white. The other name is used since it lives near on in water and the skin feels like moccasin leather. The Eastern Cottonmouth has a brown to olive-brown background with dark cross bands. When they get older they often lose their coloration, and will become solid black. Florida Cottonmouth looks very similar to an Eastern but is usually a lot darker. One big difference is that the have two dark vertical bards on each side of the nose. The babies look a lot like baby copperheads and can be hard to distinguish. They also have the yellow tip to. Both subspecies average length is between 3ft to 4ft long. The maximum record for both subspecies was 7ft 2in.
I found this slightly shorter version of a Florida Cottonmouth on the road to my camp sight at Dinner Island Ranch, in Hendry County, Florida.
It didn't take much for it to cop an attitude with me, and show me why it is called A Cottonmouth. I took a few shots, and let it go on its way in "Peace".