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your cottonmouth stories
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by bush_viper17 on August 21, 2004
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I would like anyone interested to tell their story of catching cottonmouths. Give the location, approx. time of capture/sighting and just tell how the snake reacted and what habitat it was found in.
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RE: your cottonmouth stories
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by Phobos on August 21, 2004
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Well one of my wild sightings was just off I-10 on the way from New Orleans to Baton Rouge about 10-11 am. I stopped along side the road where it was cut by a small river. I went up stream on the side where I could park the car safely and it looked like I could follow the river bank up a ways. After a few minute walk I flushed out a few yearling water snakes that I was unable to catch, so I countinued my hike. About 10M up from the location of the Natrix spot I found a young Cottonmouth at the base of a tree about 4 feet from the edge of the riverbank. I stopped and took a few pictures of the snake where it was laying then gently hooked it a set it on a tree for further photographs. At no time did the snake strike or hiss. Not an aggressive bone in this snake. When I was done checking her out. I placed her back where I found her and she just settled back down and did not run.
You can see the pictures (the first 3 on my field herping page)
http://groups.msn.com/SomeLikeThemHot/fieldherping.msnw?albumlist=2
The next 3 on that page was a second Cottonmouth that was very well hidded along the path I was walking...see if you can see it in the first picture. Might have struck at me if I did not see it from where I took the first image.
Cottonmouths are very agressive feeder in captivity but never found a nasty one in the wild.
Enjoy,
Al
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RE: your cottonmouth stories
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by Snakeman1982 on August 21, 2004
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Like phobos, I too have never seen an "aggressive" cottonmouth in the wild. I find them very easy going. They do the classic defensive displays but they are very easy to photograph and just sit there waiting for you to leave. If you fool around with them and make a mistake they will surely bite you but otherwise I have had no problems with them.
As for a story about cottonmouths. I have a semi-interesting one. In the spring of 2003 my buddy David Kahrs and I went down to southeastern Oklahoma to help a fellow biologist with her research on Swainson's Warblers. The very southeastern part of Oklahoma is a very swampy area that has a few alligators and lots of swampy wildlife. That friday night we set out to road cruise up and down some dirt roads around the Little River and a few other herping spots along the way. The area is very swampy and I think it had been raining earlier in the afternoon.
Well we had caught a couple of cottonmouths already that night and then headed to a spot on the Little River to go to sleep and to herp a little more, just to see what we could find. We both know the area very well since we had worked there several times before and we knew a good spot for cottonmouths. This spot was an excellent place for cottonmouths and it seemed to be a perfect night. Infact the previous week or so before I watched a cottonmouth cross the trail about three or four feet next to me while I was standing and relieving myself. Good thing I was already going, lol! So anyway we parked the car near this same trail because it was too small for his vehicle and started walking. This trail is a small dirt trail made by four-wheel drives with grass in the middle and high grass on both sides. I of course was wearing sandals because I am used to wearing those in the Everglades and rarely think about wearing protective shoes. We had a couple of really crappy headlamps and figured we'd just hike around for a while to see what we could find. Well, we walked about 20 or so feet into the trail before we came across the first water puddle, and lying next to it was a cottonmouth. So we looked at it for a while and carefully moved it over a few feet to the side in the grass. Then about 50 or so feet after that we came to the next water hole and saw another one. These cottonmouths were probably about 2 foot long or so give or take 6 inches. So we looked at it also and then took it off the trail. In the third puddle we found nothing but found another in the fourth. So we looked at it and then put it in the grass near the trail. By this point we were getting a little worried because I was not wearing proper shoes and there were just cottonmouths all over the place. We knew they were there but didn't realize at what quantity. That area is probably the closest I have ever seen to a "nest" of cottonmouths. Our crappy headlamps did not allow us to see the ground nearly well enough to take too many chances so we decided to turn back. Of course we knew there were two cottonmouths at the edge of the trail on the way back that may be anywhere by now and we of course had to go there in order to make it back to the car. Anyway, we made it back fine and found two more cottonmouths later on the roads giving us a total of 7 for the night. That was my best night for cottonmouths but also one of the few times I had ever been worried for my safety.
If you take a look at my profile now you can see a cottonmouth that I am holding, which was caught very near the area that I just told about.
Robert
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RE: your cottonmouth stories
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by GREGLONGHURST on August 21, 2004
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The strangest location I have ever seen one was at the east end of the Southern Boulevard bridge going over to Palm Beach. This happened about thirty years ago. The body of water the bridge crosses is saltwater, although historically, it was a freshwater lake. I moved the snake off the road on the south side, which was probably where it came from...an uninhabited area rather densely vegetated. There are no freshwater marshes anywhere near that spot.
~~Greg~~
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RE: your cottonmouth stories
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by timberrattlesnake89 on August 21, 2004
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I caught my cottonmouths near okefenokee. I rain midday and it had been raining for 4 days already. Then it dryed up and it was sunny out. I was going down some sanddy road and then i saw this thick thing in the middle of the road and I knew it was a cottonmouth before i was even 50ft away. I caught him and took some pictures and then went on my way. Not less than an hour later I found my second on a main road the crosses the suwenee river. Then I saw a DOR on the road. Then about 45 minutes later I caught the four one in Stephen C. Foster State Park. I have not seen one since.
Phillip
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RE: Collecting in State Parks
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by GREGLONGHURST on August 22, 2004
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Just so you know for next time..It is against the law to remove any animal from a state park.
Take nothing but photographs..leave nothing but footprints.
~~Greg~~
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