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Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting beha
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by ap42182 on September 6, 2006
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Hi, I have a question on the hunting behavior of cottonmouths. I have been reading venomous reptiles of north america and it states that the cottonmouth will hold prey in it's mouth after striking it, even large prey and in other cases it will release it and hunt it, my question is, in what cases will cottonmouths strike and release and when will they strike and hold?
Dave
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by GREGLONGHURST on September 6, 2006
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This is just my opinion, based somewhat on field observations. Frogs are most likely to be bitten & held. Two reasons. One, they are not likely to cause the snake damage, & two, they are more likely to escape successfully into the water if released.
Cottonmouths are opportunistic feeders. They will as readily eat carrion as they will hunt prey.
~~Greg~~
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by bush_viper17 on September 6, 2006
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Most of my cottonmouth experience comes from captive situations. Most of the time when my cottonmouths fed, they held the prey until it died. Actually, I think they held it every time. It may just vary between certain individual snakes.
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by snakeguy101 on September 6, 2006
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i tend to see striking as a defensive behavior and holding as a regular act of eating but i have not seen many cotonmouths eat, just a hypothosis on what i have seen
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by Cro on September 6, 2006
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Cottonmouths tend to bite and hold cold blooded food items, like frogs, fish, and lizards. This makes a lot of sense, as these animal could easily excape into the water or run a long way after being bitten, and they would not leave nearly as much of a scent trail to follow as a rodent would.
This behavior is also common in Copperheads.
Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by earthguy on September 7, 2006
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Greg is right. Conant and Gloyd mentioned this behavior in their monograph. They stated that they felt the snakes released rodents because they were potentially more dangerous to the snakes. I've known mice to kill snakes, but frogs rarely bite;). Also, there has been record of a cottonmouth scavenging a DOR cat. They enjoy carrion.
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RE: Hunting behavior in a question on the hunting
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by ALA_snake33 on September 7, 2006
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Of all the A. piscivorous I have Kept, only one Struck and let go of its Pray and it was only on rare occasions that it would let go. In my experience, they seem to prefer hanging onto their Food. I think that they probably do this as a way to be sure they do not loose their Food Item. The reason I say this is, if you have noticed, Cottonmouth are not that fast of a Snake on Ground. Considering this fact, it would not be uncommon for their Kill to be stolen from them by another Cottonmouth. As you all know, Cottonmouth can and will readily take Carrion. So, who’s to say that another Cottonmouth wouldn’t attempt to take a Pray Item that was Killed by another Snake.
Just my own personal thoughts, made from about 13 Years of watching them in the Wild and in Captivity. This comes from about 50 Cottonmouth I Kept in my own Collection, and probably 200 + Caught and Observed in the Wild.
Be Safe Ya’ll, Happy Herping : Wally
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