# Can you id this snake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560 "2009-09-01T22:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/1 "2009-09-01T22:45:23Z")
[A snake! A snake!](http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm119/badger60/snake/?action=view¤t=snake.jpg) In a pond, 50 miles or inland from the coast in South Carolina USA. And if the answer is “yes,” what kind? ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/2 "2009-09-01T23:23:05Z")
Could be either a [Northern Water Snake](http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/nersip.htm) or a [cottonmouth](http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/agkpis.htm). It’s hard to tell from the picture, but a closer look at the head would do it. Northern water snakes are definitely large, but non-venomous. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/3 "2009-09-01T23:59:56Z")
It could also be a [Banded Water Snake](http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/nerfas.htm). But the pattern makes me lean toward the Cottonmouth. Best to avoid in any case, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/4 "2009-09-02T00:17:26Z")
Another vote for cottonmouth: your picture looks like the second picture [here](http://www.wildlifenorthamerica.com/Reptile/Eastern-Cottonmouth/Agkistrodon/piscivorus-piscivorus.html). See also about halfway down on [this page](http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/wetlands.htm) for more about the cottonmouth and the northern water snake (and this piece of helpful advice) > [@](#): > > Above all, if you are in a boat, don’t empty your revolver into a snake which has fallen into the bottom of the boat. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/5 "2009-09-02T01:13:59Z")
Hard to tell by the photo. By the SC location, it could also be the Brown Water Snake, _Nerodia taxispilota_. They’re hard to tell apart if you can’t see the head clearly, and that’s not the best idea if it is a Cottonmouth. UGA has a [nice page comparing](http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/SPARC/trip5.htm)(scroll down) the Brown Water Snake and Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin, including some behavioural differences that might help out in your ID, **Mr. Snake Hips**. (I’ve always loved your username!) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/6 "2009-09-02T02:27:48Z")
As someone who usually encounters these critters weekly or more frequently, I’m not going very far out on a limb to state with 99.999% certainty that the critter in your picture is a cottonmouth. Brown, Banded and Green water snakes all can look somewhat similar to him, but that dude is a cottonmouth. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/7 "2009-09-02T02:43:15Z")
In looking at the OP photo again, there is more white coloration on the underside of the head and neck, indicating a cottonmouth. What I do think is quite cool snakewise is that the harmless Nerodia really mimics the toxic Agistrodon with body markings. Well, guess not so cool for people , and the snakes that get killed with a mis-ID. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/8 "2009-09-02T02:54:01Z")
Thanks, all. My suspicion was cottonmouth, also, based on something I’ve heard, but can’t attest to its reliability: Water mocassins generally swim with most of their bodies afloat, and non-venomous water snakes generally swim with most of their bodies submerged. Again, don’t know how reliable that is. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/9 "2009-09-02T03:16:52Z")
From the UGA link I gave above, that’s a habit of Cottonmouths: > [@](#): > > brown water snakes frequently bask on limbs overhanging the water, sometimes at heights of 3.5-5 meters (10-15 feet), and 3) brown water snakes usually flee when disturbed, and generally dive under water. Cottonmouths, on the other hand, usually 1) live in small creeks, backwaters and ox-bow lakes in swamps, and sometimes small ponds, 2) almost never are found high above the water on overhanging limbs, and 3) often hold their position when disturbed, entering a defensive coil, or swim away on the surface of the water. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/10 "2009-09-02T16:12:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Another vote for cottonmouth: your picture looks like the second picture [here](http://www.wildlifenorthamerica.com/Reptile/Eastern-Cottonmouth/Agkistrodon/piscivorus-piscivorus.html). Concur. The bands have a sort of pattern, two dark bands enclosing a medium band, with lighter bands separating each of these sets. Your photo matches that exactly (I don’t know if other species also match it exactly, but the other pictures in this thread do not seem to). Also, if you look at the THIRD picture in **Thudlow Boink’s** cite, you’ll see the jawline of the moccasin/cottonmouth has a dramatic dark stripe with a pale line above it. I believe I can just barely see that same line in your photo, right at the waterline. Coupled with the “swimming on top” behavior already noted (nice find) I feel some confidence it’s a moccasin. Or a cottonmouth. 😛 It’s clearly not a hip snake, sorry, **Earl**. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/11 "2009-09-02T19:50:33Z")
I am TIRED of these motherfucking SNAKES in this motherfucking THREAD!!! What? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/12 "2009-09-02T22:00:50Z")
In my limited experience with water mocassins they have been what I would consider stout, that is, body is big around for thier length. Most water snakes I’ve encountered are fairly thin for thier length. It seems as if part of the body is below the waterline in the picture so hard to tell for sure but it does seem “stout”. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/13 "2009-09-02T22:27:49Z")
\*and 3) often hold their position when disturbed, entering a defensive coil, or swim away on the surface of the water. \* Except when they swim TOWARD you, as one big assed cottonmouth did to me in my childhood. Michael Phelps would have been impressed. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/14 "2009-09-02T22:37:54Z")
Southern Trouser snake. Prefers moist to wet environments with some ground cover, doesn’t typically bite, but may spit venom if roughly handled. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-id-this-snake/508560/15 "2009-09-03T20:20:53Z")
Looks like a cottonmouth to me, too. And it’s the best match of username and OP I’ve seen in quite some time.