Range Visitor

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wherestheham

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3161437456_62c714ee4c_m.jpg We are allowed to take one visitor to the range. This is not what I had in mind!:what:

Not sure what type he is but I did leave him alone.:cool:

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Hmmm, diamond shaped head, heavy body, short tail, North American. Sometimes you can get the odd, light colored cotton mouth, but it looks most like an eastern diamondback. Maybe you can get a better picture of the markings after it finishes shedding, its skin is a little dull right now. Try to find it again in about a week or two.
 
If we knew where you were we could make a better guess. I'm going to say cotton mouth even though that doesn't look like cotton mouth territory.
 
If we knew where you were we could make a better guess. I'm going to say cotton mouth even though that doesn't look like cotton mouth territory.
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Yeah, I thought cotton mouth too, but the markings you can see definitely look more like timber rattlesnake, which is what I meant to say, not eastern diamondback which has a well defined diamond pattern.

The cotton mouth is a good choice because contrary to popular belief they can be lighter in color, especially when young. The cotton mouth is actually quite closely related to the rattlesnakes, they will often even shake their tails when nervous, and in dry leaves they can rustle the leaves and sound a little like a rattler. Also, you don't have to be near water to find them, they prefer wet habitats, but can be found miles from water if they are out looking for romance.

Yeah, venomous snakes are bit of a hobby with me. I had to promise the wife I would stop handling the critters when she was four months pregnant with our son. She picked me up at our local reptile emporium and found out I'd been handling Gaboon Vipers and spitting cobras. She wasn't happy, and kept muttering some nonsense about the kid not even being born yet and I was trying to orphan him; made me promise to leave them alone from then on.
 
I'm gonna say cotton mouth as well. Pic is small, bit it certainly doesn't appear to have any rattles, so its not a rattler. Location would help quite a bit though.
 
I'm gonna say cotton mouth as well. Pic is small, bit it certainly doesn't appear to have any rattles, so its not a rattler. Location would help quite a bit though.
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Yeah, I noticed that too, but like you say the pick is small, you might not see rattles if it only has a few buttons. I'm calling timber rattler because of the markings, but, like I said, those can be deceiving also. could be a cotton mouth.

As for the snake shot, why? It didn't seem to be hurting anything. You leave them alone they'll pretty much show you the same courtesy.
 
Cottonmouth. Is there any water nearby? Believe it or not most of the time they are non aggressive. Its the highland moccasin (Copperhead) you should worry about. Hard to see and his best defence is to bite and scat off.

Cottonmouths will give you the classic warning. Big white mouth and the hiss.
(Stay away from me) especially when surprized. If not surprized they usually slither off.

There was a professor at the University of Georgia who did a study on them for years. You can step on them and they most usually won't bite. You can brush them away with your foot and same thing. Once you reach down to pick one up. Bam!!:eek:
 
you might not see rattles if it only has a few buttons
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Yeah, I thought of that after I posted. It's certainly a possibility though. Can be tricky trying to identify a species, especially the young since many of the venomous snakes look so much alike when they are juvenile. After looking around on google images, I'm stickin' with cotton mouth. The markings and coloration look like cotton mouth.
 

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Yeah, Sharkhunter, I'm thinkin' you're right. You may have noticed in my first response I mentioned a cotton mouth first. Probably because it was my first gut reaction, most likely should have stuck with it.

U.S.SFC_RET, good call too. I once overheard a conversation at Blue Springs, which is a private spring outside of the town of High Springs, Florida. We were on the dock waiting our turn in line to dive in and one woman said to her friend that she was sure glad that there were no snakes around, because she had heard that cotton mouths were so aggressive. She and her friend both decided to stop swimming when I pointed out the six footer that had been sunning itself on a log less than a dozen feet from where all of us diving in had been hitting the water. The snake had been there for at least two hours because it was there when I arrived.
 
Dave B, your pic reminds me of my shooting range!

We always have cows grazing that eventually start hanging out by the targets, and force everybody to move a few hundred yards to one side or the other.
 
Give an idea where you're at
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I'm in NW Florida. There is water not far from the range but this did not look like the Cotton Mouths I'm used to seeing.

Also, this guy was not aggressive at all. He never hissed, never opened his mouth; basically just sat there and looked at us.

I usually don't kill snakes unless they are somewhere that I can't get away from. I love the outdoors and believe they are there for a reason.:cool:

As long as I see them first, I'm okay!
 
I would say cottonmouth by its dull coloring. A copperheads colors are usually more apparent. Its definitely not a rattlesnake. There tails are not that sleek at he end. Cut the end of the tail off from the last curve and that is what a rattlers tail would look like even if all the buttens were absent.
 
At my old range, someone was bit by a poisonous snake and died, he didn't realize he had been bitten on his ankle until he was showing signs. A couple months later there was another snake in the corner and the range master shot it with a .22 revolver (shotshell). There's a shortage of quality ranges in South Florida unfortunately.
 
Did you grab it by the tail and swing it around and around until you slammed its head on the table? I've wanted to do that for a long time.
 
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