water moccasins-learn something new every day.

[poppy42]

The ' snake experts' will lecture you up and down that water moccasins will not attack you. I have had two women that I respect as competent observers with one of them being one of our foremost environmentalists of our region and the other a good observer tell me that have seen water moccasins leave the water to rush at people that had hurt them by throwing things or shooting at them. I trust what they said. Other people that I know say they have had them come towards them. Never had it happen to me yet, but I always take care when I am around them.
They can be bad news for a water skier.

I’ve found the smaller one to be more aggressive! When I lived in Florida, I was fishing with a buddy and had one climb in the boat after us! You talk about two grown men stepping and fetching!

[762 shooter]

I've walked the woods and swamps of South Carolina most every day since 1972.

The most aggressive snake is a water snake. Pizen or no.

762

[jaysouth]

I was working on a timber cruising crew in E, Arkansas along the Black River bottoms. It was late spring and the water was about knee deep in the area we were working. Of course, anything sticking out of the water had a snake warming himself in the sun. One day our crew chief was concentrating too hard on trees and got up on a water moccasin on a bush sticking out of water. When he realized that he was three feet away from a water moccasin, he started beating on the snake with his biltmore scale. A wooden stick about 18" inches long. In about 1.2 seconds, he hit the snake at least 231 times. All the while whooping and hollering and dancing in the water. Later back in town, we bought him beers for a good day's entertainment.

[jaysouth]

On another note, about five years ago, a kayaker on the Buffalo River in TN got bitten by a water moccasin. His custom made spandex kayak costume didn't save him. He was taken to Vanderbilt MC. He had over a dozen surgeries to prevent the swelling form splitting his skin and got two doses of anti-venom at $13,000 a pop. Four days later, they kicked him loose and gave him a bill for almost $200,000. Aside from my well know aversion to pain, I can think of almost 200,000 reasons to not get bitten by a cotton mouth.

[SoonerEd]

A friend of mine’s grandson was bit by one in a creek. He had 23 doses of anti-venom and it almost killed him.

[Winger Ed.]

I used to work with a guy from Georgia.
There's was a couple stories about how he was just petrified, and freaked out over snakes.

During the holiday season one year, his brother visited. I asked him if the guy was really that super freaked out by snakes.
He started laughing, and told about when they were in High School, they'd gone duck hunting from a Alum. jon boat.
He was driving along, saw a water moccasin sunning itself on a tree branch overhanging the shore line.

As you'd expect a big brother to do, he bumped the tree, and the snake dropped down into the boat.
He was laughing so hard, he almost couldn't finish the story but said that younger brother shot 5 holes with a 12 ga.
in the bottom of the boat so fast, it seemed like it only made the sound of one shot.... but didn't hit it.

I gathered than neither got bit, but business really picked up in that little boat.

[trapper9260]

Many years ago when I was a young teen , I was out fishing with my dad in the boat on a lake down the road from us at the time. We normally get frogs for their legs for eat and there was this nice big one that you could eat all 4 legs, I try to hook it with a red fishing lure but would not go for it and it went in the weeds along the shore line, I told me my dad I will get him. I stuck my hand in the water in the weeds , I felt him then felt something stuck at my hand and I had pulled my hand out of the water fast. My dad said what happened ,something stick me. He said let me see. you can see 2 needle marks on me hand. He said let me know if you start to not feel good. I did later then we went in . When we were going to shore we seen it swim across the lake and came from where I got bitten, It was a water moccasin found out and went home let mom know and he got me to the ER . They said are you sure it is not a insect bite , I told them if it was I would not be here . They gave me to shots and told my dad that if there is a line start to go up his arm rush him back. Well lucky for me there was not , but I was sick for about 2 days . I did learn my lesson from it , do not put your hand that you can not see . Out of all the snakes I dealt with the one that I did not see is the one that got me. Here I had copperhead past me and not give me any problems when I was out fishing.

[Bull]

The funnest thing to do when we were kids is too hold a cottonmouth down with a forked stick then put a pop bottle rocket in its mouth light it and watch it swim back into the pond and blow up. Didn’t have too much else to do in SW Oklahoma.

[Shanghai Jack]

We live in the middle of a large city. The city in their wisdom designed scenic canals disguised as "flood control" The only thing scenic about them is the major population of poisonous snakes. Its not uncommon to see 6 or 7 warming on the concrete in the space of a one block walk. Major turn off for dog walkers, skaters,runners, etc. They are mucho aggressive.

[armoredman]

No "nope ropes" for me. 38 special snub with snake shot rides with me whenever I go anywhere snakes might be, which in AZ is everywhere outside the city limits, and sometimes inside.

[tctender]

Don't agree with those snake know it all's either. Have saw more than one come at me or someone else.They will also bite under water as a neighbor had one bite him on his foot under water. Most of my contacts with them they just pop their mouth open but not always and i do try to give them the eternal rest whenever possible.

[trapper9260]

Don't agree with those snake know it all's either. Have saw more than one come at me or someone else.They will also bite under water as a neighbor had one bite him on his foot under water. Most of my contacts with them they just pop their mouth open but not always and i do try to give them the eternal rest whenever possible.

You so right about they bite under water .I found that out many years ago.

[barnetmill]

Finally something good to say about water moccasins. They eat pythons.

A python with a tracker was eaten by a cottonmouth snake in Florida. The Miami Zoo recently made the surprising discovery while trying to locate the tracker. It posted the X-ray of the interior of the snake's belly with the python inside on Facebook. The image shows the tracking transmitter that was installed on the spine of the python. The tracker allows zoo staff to study the movements of the snake and control them. The X-ray also shows that the Burmese python was eaten tail-first by the native snake.

The cottonmouth snake was 43-inch-long and it ate the 39-inch Burmese python.

Newsweek reached out to the zoo, which referred to the incident as the native species "fighting back" against the invasive python.

[backwoods_bob]

Some years back going from Arkansas to Mississippi, I stopped at the rest stop in Greenville. Had the groundskeeper tell me to watch out for the cottonmouths. Rest stop building was built to look like a shrunken riverboat and was in the middle of a pond.

Looked over the hedges and saw cottonmouths sunning theirselves everywhere there was a sunny spot. Big ones too. Heavy rains had driven their food out of the farms around the town.

[barnetmill]

Some years back going from Arkansas to Mississippi, I stopped at the rest stop in Greenville. Had the groundskeeper tell me to watch out for the cottonmouths. Rest stop building was built to look like a shrunken riverboat and was in the middle of a pond.

Looked over the hedges and saw cottonmouths sunning theirselves everywhere there was a sunny spot. Big ones too. Heavy rains had driven their food out of the farms around the town.

I would gotten carefully back into the car and gone elsewhere far away.

[barnetmill]

Lately the water moccasins I have been seeing have coloration that blends with leaves. The bands were very reduced on the top of the snake I shot one a few hours ago being a very dark tan to almost black. It was a young one because it was under 20'' and the tail was just beginning to constrict and so was quite long. I have shot water moccasins that were over three feet that were still colored like juveniles on my place and lately just the opposite. This one today was doing its best to hide. I was riding on the tractor when I saw it slither into some brush. I engage the bush hog mowed a bit around the the trees and spotted it coiled up against a tree. I looked long enough to assure myself that it was pit viper and from the tractor shot it with a shot cartridge. It was still quivering a bit even though the coiled snake caught the full factory CCI 38 spl shot load. I did not fire again so as not to alarm the neighbors. One shot and they are not sure. Multiple shots and they are. There was one lady out in her back yard about 50 yards away on my property line and she told me was not sure what she heard and thought it might have have been my tractor.

[HWooldridge]

Funny you mention the noise of the shot. I’ve found people are less likely to hear a bang when it’s really hot in summer, because they are indoors with the AC running. On the other hand, they are more likely to be outside or have the windows open in fall or spring.

I used to live in East Texas and we saw lots of moccasins because water was everywhere, and they would move around quite a bit. In Central Texas, you only see them near rivers or lakes.

[Txcowboy52]

Some of you have stated here about water moccasins coming at you, I have a long story, I will try to make it short. A few years back my wife was bitten by a copperhead on the hand while cleaning the front porch. After 3 days in the hospital she was much better. Doctor told us he treated many copperhead bites every year. A few moccasin bites even fewer rattlesnake bites . He said of the three, if you had to be bit by one the copperhead was by far the easiest to treat and least likely to cause permanent damage. I bought several minnow traps and baited them with fresh chicken eggs, I know sounds crazy . That summer we caught 15 to 20 copperheads, I lost count. When ever I would release them, so I could administer a dose of lead, more times than not they would come straight to me mad as a hornet. I’m happy to say none survived the encounter!

[HWooldridge]

Some of you have stated here about water moccasins coming at you, I have a long story, I will try to make it short. A few years back my wife was bitten by a copperhead on the hand while cleaning the front porch. After 3 days in the hospital she was much better. Doctor told us he treated many copperhead bites every year. A few moccasin bites even fewer rattlesnake bites . He said of the three, if you had to be bit by one the copperhead was by far the easiest to treat and least likely to cause permanent damage. I bought several minnow traps and baited them with fresh chicken eggs, I know sounds crazy . That summer we caught 15 to 20 copperheads, I lost count. When ever I would release them, so I could administer a dose of lead, more times than not they would come straight to me mad as a hornet. I’m happy to say none survived the encounter!

I agree with the doc 100%. I’ve known several folks who were bitten by rattlers, and although none were ever in danger of dying, all of them had long recoveries that included skin grafts. OTOH, a lady friend of ours was bitten on her right small toe by a copperhead; she was unable to get to a hospital until the next day - but not much happened beyond a little swelling and the toe was crooked after it healed.

[barnetmill]

I agree with the doc 100%. I’ve known several folks who were bitten by rattlers, and although none were ever in danger of dying, all of them had long recoveries that included skin grafts. OTOH, a lady friend of ours was bitten on her right small toe by a copperhead; she was unable to get to a hospital until the next day - but not much happened beyond a little swelling and the toe was crooked after it healed.

The father of a neighbor while floating in a tube on a pond was bitten on the rear by a water moccasin. He ended up with an indentation when it healed.