CottonMouth

[Daniel]

Working in the yard, been back and forth to my truck a few times. Well about quitting time I head back to the truck (great place to keep the flies off your drink) and what do I come upon, a cotton mouth next to my truck tire. He was not afraid of me one bit. He had a bit more respect for my garden hoe. Note to self. (garden hoe needs to be sharpened)

[Wendy]

EWWWWWWWWWW!! I hate snakes!

[Bear Foot Farm]

Those are strange markings for a Cotton Mouth

[patty]

I would have died from fright!

[Daniel]

Apr 18, 2015 23:26:28 GMT Bear Foot Farm said:

Those are strange markings for a Cotton Mouth

I'm assuming it was a cotton mouth.  It had fangs and the mouth was cotton white.

[1shotwade]

Thank God I have not had a lot of encounters with cottonmouth's but in every case I have found them to be extremely aggressive! If that was truly a cottonmouth you were very fortunate to not have had a serious fight on your hands.My last encounter was about 10 years ago.A business manager and law enforcement officer spent the better part of a half hour trying to kill it.Finally the business person got it with a shovel while it was chasing the cop down the road after he was unsuccessful at killing it with his shotgun (loaded with buckshot no doubt).Looking back on it now it was pretty funny but didn't seem so at the time!This snake charged me 4 times previous to this while I was on a lawn mower.They are very vicious!

Wade

[manygoatsnmore]

Every time I read one of these snake threads, I become more and more thankful I live in garter snake country! No venomous snakes here, thank goodness.

[Deleted]

 I grew up on the banks of the Great Pee Dee river in SC and cottonmouths were a common sight.I have seen them in various shades of black to almost the color of a rattlesnake.
It all depends on their age. Hard to tell from your picture but if he has that cotton white mouth then that's what it is.Once you've seen that you never forget it. They are the most aggressive snake I've ever encountered. Had them chase me across the yard and try to come through the door after me.Lost a good 'coondog' to one and killed too many to count while hunting those swamps. One day while fishing, a cottonmouth dropped into my boat and ran me out. I swam to shore and had to get some other fishermen to pull my boat to shore. We found the snake eating the fish I had caught. Beat him to death with a paddle. The largest I've seen was 6' 9" long.
Stepped on him while hunting and my cousin shot him as he sunk his fangs into my chaps. Darn fool almost shot my foot off, but he did kill the snake. I have a picture of that one somewhere, will try to find it. They are not a snake to mess with!! 

[farmchix]

Too bad he didn't just slither off into oblivion. Shame he had to go to snake heaven.

[NJ Rich]

It is better to be safe than sorry. During mating season cotton mouths can be very aggressive so I am told.

Here in NJ we have rattle snakes and copper heads. I have seen rattle snakes in many colors. I saw one that was almost totally black and some very light in color. Color isn't always a true identifier for snakes.

Non-venomous snakes are a benefit praying on small rodents that cause crop damage.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2015 13:33:29 GMT farmchix said:

Too bad he didn't just slither off into oblivion. Shame he had to go to snake heaven.

I don't think there is a "heaven" for cottonmouths. I think they go straight to that other place.

[farmchix]

While snakes scare the bajeebies out of me, I think they all have a useful purpose....as long as it is far away from me. :-P

[Deleted]

Another reason to live in Maine -- no venomous snakes. I've had one run-in with a rattler (in Colorado) and that once was enough.

[Callie]

Now that I have my feet off the floor.....what is it about snakes? They are just creepy. Every other animal out there, makes a noise. Snakes just appear. Nasty. I always get dizzy and nauseous when I see one. Totally phobic. Nasty.

[Rustaholic]

I have never seen a Cotton Mouth snake.
Most snakes around here are harmless and I will leave them alone.
We do have an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake here if you know where to look.

As a young teen at a friend's house there was a strange snake that had about 1/3 of it's body going straight up with it's head level and was hissing at their dog.  With one good swing I took it's head off with a golf club.
That snake was about 4' long.

Down in Missouri on the farm where my mother grew up I have seen a Copper Head and we killed it.
I just cut a forked stick and pinned it's head down and it's body wrapped up around the stick but I had it well pinned down and my uncle had a large knife and cut the head off right behind my stick. Then we put the whole snake in the burning barrel.

[Bear Foot Farm]

I grew up on the banks of the Great Pee Dee river in SC and cottonmouths were a common sight.I have seen them in various shades of black to almost the color of a rattlesnake.

Ours tend to be greenish when young, and darken with age, with one the size of the OP being nearly black.
It must be a regional genetic variation to have the near white coloration at that age

[Ozarks Tom]

Wade fishing a river in Oklahoma with a friend I threw my lure into a shadowed area, and I must have hit that snake right on the head, because he jumped on the lure like a big bass.  Since it was my favorite lure, and Rebel had quit making them, I fought it in close enough to pull my .38 with rat shot out of the shoulder holster and shoot it just below the lure.  It was a big one, and my friend kept yelling to cut the line, but doggone, that was my favorite lure.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2015 21:06:52 GMT Bear Foot Farm said:

I grew up on the banks of the Great Pee Dee river in SC and cottonmouths were a common sight.I have seen them in various shades of black to almost the color of a rattlesnake.

Ours tend to be greenish when young, and darken with age, with one the size of the OP being nearly black.
It must be a regional genetic variation to have the near white coloration at that age

Yea, I've seen them like that as well. I also do believe there may be a regional reason to the color variation. Their surroundings could affect the color. The dark water of "Black River" near Georgetown,SC produces darker snakes, bass and redbreast than the muddy but lighter water of the "Great Pee Dee". I got no scientific evidence, just what these old
eyes have seen.

[Wendy]

I hate all snakes. I don't care if they are good ones or bad ones. They are all bad to me!

[Rustaholic]

Apr 21, 2015 20:37:10 GMT Wendy said:

I hate all snakes. I don't care if they are good ones or bad ones. They are all bad to me!

The good one eat bad bugs.
One of four times I heard my mother scream was when she was pulling weeds out of one of her flower beds and she pulled out a snake that was looking at her.
It was just a harmless garter snake but she slung it into the ditch and was whacking it into little pieces with a hoe by the time I could get out there.

[Wendy]

I would have done the same thing! As long as they stay far away from me they are free to roam.

[Jolly]

We hunted in the Tensas for many years. Rattlesnakes were always there and we saw some big ones, more than one over five feet long. And we would respect the rattlers, but we were always wary about cottonmouths. A rattler wants to be left alone, whereas a cottonmouth might decide to come get you.

Only times a snake tried to bite any of us, it was always a cottonmouth. Over the years, it happened twice (thank God, never to me) to guys in our camp. Both times, the guys walked away scared, but intact...See, all of us wore snake leggings in the early part of the season. Leggings may be hot, but I'll trade hot for safety around snakes.

[motdaugrnds]

I really don't care for snakes even though I will permit a few black rat snakes to live here and share my eggs. However, I've never seen a cotton mouth on my place but the neighbor 1/2 mile down the road killed one on his and let it lay out for days for all to see.

I have seen copperheads here. My son killed the two found and, during the winter, I poured a cup full of gasoline down into a hole where I was pretty sure they were nesting. I haven't seen any since that time and am very grateful for I haven't any idea how to go about killing one. (I have a 12 gauge with bird shot, i.e. 4 and 6. Will that work?)

[Jolly]

Smaller shot sizes work even better in a shotgun. I've killed more than one snake with a .38 revolver loaded with #9 shotshells, so it doesn't take a ton of shot to put one down.

So, some #8 low brass in a 12 gauge will work quite well.

[Deleted]

Texas still has a big chunk of my heart but I don't miss cottonmouths, or as we called them water moccasins.  I can handle a rattlesnake and did many times, kinda got used to them...sort of!  Fishing on the Pedernales with my grandmother many moons ago, we cut many a line with a moccasin attached.  Here in Vermont, locals tell me we do have timber rattlers but I've never seen one...thankfully!

[mollymckee]

I used a sharp hoe to relieve copperheads of their heads when we lived in TX. I would find them in the pasture and didn't want to shoot. Water moccasins we did shoot. I do like the fact that we have very few snakes here, and except a very few rattle snakes, we don't have any really nasty snakes here.

[veronica]

Fortunately, we don't have cottonmouths here - the only poisonous ones are rattlesnakes and copperheads.  But we have some big old black snakes on the property, so I never see the poisonous ones!

[motdaugrnds]

Thanks Jolly. Next time I'm in town, I'll pick up a box of #8 for my Mossburg.

Veronica, don't kid yourself about those black snakes keeping poisonous ones off your place. I have 3-4 large black rats and still found copperheads. Also, have read...somewhere...that black snakes are social and will permit copperheads to den up with them. (That's why I poured some gasoline in the area I thought they were spending the winter.)

[snakeshooter]

I really really dislike a cottonmouth, very aggressive down here. That is what caused my name. My wife is terrified of snakes. I only dislike the venomous ones and what we call chicken or rat snakes here.

[oldmania]

I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread!