Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ambling along a trail in Payne's Prairie (by Gainesville) we came across this lil' dude... he was in a pretty decent collection of leaves/shrubs/etc, so I never got a direct look at his head. And considering that I couldn't ID him on the spot, I wasn't interested in getting any closer on the chance that he could be something less than pleasant to interact with! Sorry for the lack of eye in the photo, a terribly unlucky leaf got in the way.

Searching online, the closest I could come pattern-wise was southern copperhead (though he seems a bit dark, but mebbe that's a young'un thing... again, wish I could have gotten a shot of the eyes) or water moccasin, which doesn't make much sense because he was pretty far from the nearest water. Then again, I'm from Maryland and live in Kansas now, so I dunno anything about Florida snakes I'm sure y'all do, though!

-----
1.0.0 Normal corn snake (Frito)
1.0.0 Creamsicle corn (Tang)
0.1.0 Ghost corn (Raynham)
1.0.0 Bay of LA rosy boa (Rivet)
0.1.0 Cape Gopher (Mole)
0.0.1 African House Snake (Casa)

That is a Florida Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Probably a good thing that you didn't get closer because they are venomous. However, they are also rather reluctant to bite.

Here's how close you can get to them - (jusk kidding by the way, this was shot with a longer macro lens)

-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Yeah, I observed the ever-helpful "If you can't ID it, stay out of bitey range" rule. Those pics were on full zoom, at arms length Thanks for the ID!

-P
-----
1.0.0 Normal corn snake (Frito)
1.0.0 Creamsicle corn (Tang)
0.1.0 Ghost corn (Raynham)
1.0.0 Bay of LA rosy boa (Rivet)
0.1.0 Cape Gopher (Mole)
0.0.1 African House Snake (Really Lil' Dude)

that was good thinking on your part to not grab it, and then try to identify it!!LOL.......otherwise you could have wound up identifying the ceiling in a hospital!!LOL
Doug
-----
Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

definitely a cottonmouth. They aren't always near water but do prefer it. There are probably plenty of rodents, birds, lizards, toads, and other snakes for it to munch on where you took the pics.

Cottonmouths often wander away from water, especially when - as now at Paynes Prairie - things are drying up.