Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I wish I had my camera but I think I left it at the barn where I found this little guy, maybe someone can figure out what he is by description alone. He's about 6" long about half a centimeter thick. (He's so tiny, I wonder what it eats?) Mouse grey/brown color. I see no pattern but the feintest stripe and maybe a scale or two a tone darker then the original mousy color. He was found in my horse's water bucket with a small puddle of some rainwater. He sure swims. . . I would just grab him with my hand, but I didn't know if he was poisonious or not. We are in central Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area. I was hoping it was a rat snake neonate, any takers on what I found?

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Violette Garcia
www.shakahnsgrove.com (Coming Soon!)
Yes I know it's in webmaster's 'shop'.

From your description, I cannot be certain what you saw, but I can tell you it was not a cottonmouth. Young moccasins are brightly patterned in oranges & browns. You mentioned a stripe. Bear in mind that in snakes, stripes run from head to tail..bands run across the body. A good rule of thumb in the United States is that if a snake is striped, it is not venomous. None of our venomous snakes are striped in their normal pattern morphs. Young cottonmouths are seldom described as very thin. They are born moderately heavy-set.

The attached website has a picture of a neonate Florida cottonmouth. The differences between the southeastern form & the western are minimal.

~~Greg~~
Venomous Snakes of Florida

My guess is that it is more likely to be a young Garter snake (if the one stripe runs down the body). The rest is (as Greg said). Moccasins are fat little snakes...yours sounds way too thin.

One other thing. If you can (safely) look at the pupils of your snakes eyes, round (like us) is harmless. cat eyes (oval) are venomous.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Well, like Greg and Frank already said, It doesn't sound like any native venomous snake. Check out the site linked below for herps of DFW. you can find it under species accounts. I think maybe a garter or lined snake. Anyways, good luck.

Mike
Herps of DFW

Neonate cottons have a yellow tail. Sounds like a Garter.

Storeria dekayi, based on the faint stripe and the fact that brown snakes seem to be one of the most common species to turn up in populated areas. Usually they're more brown than gray, but coloration can vary considerably. The other possibility is a neonate Graham's Crayfish snake, Regina grahamii, which certainly is a good swimmer and tends a bit more toward grayish. In any case, it doesn't sound like a young Cottonmouth. Mike's link above will help you determine if it's either one of the ones I've mentioned.
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MichaelB

It has been identified as an "earth" snake? I guess they eat worms? It looks about the size of an nightcrawler so that makes sense. I put him back over by the pond. His eyes were tiny black and beady looking. I didn't think he was poisonious either, he was aweful friendly. Thanks everyone!
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Violette Garcia
www.shakahnsgrove.com (Coming Soon!)
Yes I know it's in webmaster's 'shop'.