[Rick Hall]

Seriously? The cottonmouth will swim at you.

Most won't. But not being of the "kill 'em all" clan, I once swerved to miss a farm road cottonmouth and saw him coming for the truck in the rear view. Backed up past him to see if he'd do it again, and sure enough, he's swapped ends and was coming for the truck again. Bold dude.

But I'd think most of their reputation for aggression comes from the inclination of many to stand their ground and strike the defensive pose their name comes from, rather than retreat:


Fortunately for all parties, most run.

 

[quackaholic]

Shoot first....identify later. I don't care what they look like our sound like. Trust me, you ain't scratching the surface of the population. Way more that you don't see. Black snakes and king snakes are the only exception to this rule. Black snakes do a lot of rodent control and kings, well they eat other snakes.

 

[Thomas D]

Get an eastern indigo about 7 ft long. That will take care of all the snakes incl moccasins, rattlers and any other venomous snakes.

 

[HPL]

Sounds like a suicidal tendency to me.

That behavior evolved long before firearms arrived on the scene.

 

[passthru]

Venomous snakes don't have a very long life expectancy if I see them. On the other hand non-venomous almost always get a pass. Learning to identify them is easy.

I have a friend who lives by this adage.
There are only two types of snakes. They are very easy to tell apart. They are rattlesnakes and cobras. Rattlesnakes have a rattle at the end of the tale and thus easy to identify.

All other snakes are cobras.

 

[Terry Marshall]

One thing that has not been mentioned which I have observed is that Moccasins do not like a lot of traffic, they prefer to be isolated and not disturbed. By running a lot of dogs and 4 wheelers tends to move them to a new location.
I have also heard that Water Snakes and Mocassins will not cohabitate, True ??????
Comments

 

[passthru]

Not true. I have seen them both swimming the same shore lines many times.

 

[Bob Glover]

Cotton mouths generally swim along the bank, while water snakes are the ones you find in the trees over water.

 

[Dalton]

That behavior evolved long before firearms arrived on the scene.

Well they're here now.

 

[M&K's Retrievers]

Seriously? The cottonmouth will swim at you.

Sure. Didn't you see Lonesome Dove?

 

[M&K's Retrievers]

Our last house in the country had an abundance of rat snakes. We would find them in the barn, the driveway, pasture, etc. A couple of days after we moved in, I opened a closet door in the garage just in time to see the last two feet of a rat snake crawling into the wall which was adjacent to the laundry room. Never saw it again and I didn't tell my wife until the day we left. As I suspected, had I told her about it, she would never have spent another night there.

 

[Dustin D]

Crossed paths with this devil couple weeks ago.

 

[Gerry Clinchy]

Get an eastern indigo about 7 ft long. That will take care of all the snakes incl moccasins, rattlers and any other venomous snakes.

Really interesting ... so I had to look it up
http://www.oriannesociety.org/eastern-indigo-snake

They are resistant to the venom of poisonous snakes, and suffer no lasting damage if bitten by them. They are indiscriminate carnivores, so other snakes are fair game for them (though rarely against their own species in the wild).

And they are BIG snakes ... one of the largest in North America; can reach a length of 8 ft. 7.1 inches! The females tend slightly smaller than the males (hah! Only about 6 ft +)

 

[John Lash]

Crossed paths with this devil couple weeks ago.

View attachment 23554

You don't have to be a herpetologist to know to leave him alone...

 

[HPL]

Crossed paths with this devil couple weeks ago.

View attachment 23554

Classic Cottonmouth. No doubt there a-tall! Would NEVER confuse that for a nonvenomous water snake.

 

[HPL]

Really interesting ... so I had to look it up
http://www.oriannesociety.org/eastern-indigo-snake

They are resistant to the venom of poisonous snakes, and suffer no lasting damage if bitten by them. They are indiscriminate carnivores, so other snakes are fair game for them (though rarely against their own species in the wild).

And they are BIG snakes ... one of the largest in North America; can reach a length of 8 ft. 7.1 inches! The females tend slightly smaller than the males (hah! Only about 6 ft +)

Two other points about indigoes: they are not constrictors, but rather either crush the skull of their prey with their powerful jaws or beat it to death like a rat terrier, and... they seldom bite when handled. I've been around several, including one really huge one (a bit over 7' and as big around as my fore arm at the elbow) and although they swell up and sigh (not really a hiss) loudly, I've never even had one fake strike at me, and haven't ever had anyone tell me that they had been bitten either. Really great snakes to have around, and quite pretty when they have recently shed.

 

[Migillicutty]

Crossed paths with this devil couple weeks ago.

View attachment 23554

No mistaking what that is.

 

[Rick Hall]

Two other points about indigoes: they are not constrictors, but rather either crush the skull of their prey with their powerful jaws or beat it to death like a rat terrier, and... they seldom bite when handled. I've been around several, including one really huge one (a bit over 7' and as big around as my fore arm at the elbow) and although they swell up and sigh (not really a hiss) loudly, I've never even had one fake strike at me, and haven't ever had anyone tell me that they had been bitten either. Really great snakes to have around, and quite pretty when they have recently shed.

Here in SW Louisiana, the old folks call them "ice picks" and say it's bad luck to kill one.