I've been image searching awhile now, but I can't ID this snake. Saw him on my running trail after a strong rain shower near a marshy area. Thanks!
Can anybody ID this snake?
- Thread starter FL shaver
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I'm no snake guy....but near a marshy area it could be a cottonmouth or a *florida banded water snake.
*that is if you are in Florida
*that is if you are in Florida
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- #3
Florida banded watersnake is the closest match I have found by image searching. I am in SW FL. Thanks for playing! Knew I could count on a shaving forum to answer a herpetology question!
Banded water snake would be my guess too.
The head appears to have venom sacks... Rat snakes don't have a wide head like that. That snake has recently shed it's skin, very bright in color...
We're not just lather lovers here at B&B
my first thought too with the color and head, especially the head, it does look like it could be poisonous.
but I'm not that familiar with snakes so I went with the obvious choices being a marshy area.
Venomous Water Moccasin is my guess... The band pattern can differ quite a bit from hatch to hatch...
Cottonmouth.
I'm leaning toward this as well...found a cool website to help distinguish them better
http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml
it has some characteristics of both snakes based on the side by side comparison on the website. It's really the head and the thick (IMO) body that makes me think cottonmouth.
The head is a sure sign it's venomous... Toothpick you are right about the mid section too, they use power from the center of the body to deliver a strike.
teamwork gents!!
there is no I in team but there is an I in...poIsonous!
there is no I in team but there is an I in...poIsonous!
If you have a higher quality picture of it I can tell you real easy if it's venomous or not.
Good Lord, thankfully only scary thing on our track is me. Great work Gents !
Without a better picture I'm going to have to say it's non-venomous. It has a long tapering body compared to a Cottonmouth. Cottonmouths bodies are thick and stubby. They don't taper. They are thick, shorter and then boom all of the sudden at once narrow down to a skinny tail. Non-venomous snakes are very good at making themselves look venomous and scary. I also don't think it's a Copperhead. Copperheads and Cottonmouths are closely related. Copperheads are shorter and less slender then non-venomous snakes but not as short and stubby as Cottonmouths. See how the banding on this snake is thicker on the back and gets narrower as they go towards the belly. Copperheads banding almost always is narrower on the back and thicker as it goes around to the belly. That tends to be the case with Cottonmouths too if you can see the banding. Although theirs tend to be less dramatic and a more uniform thickness than Copperheads.
simon1
Self Ignored by Vista
I'm by no means and expert, but I'd say it is either a water snake or a cottonmouth. Picture is too small to see the eyes.
Wife got up one morning and found a snake that had crawled up into a potted plant that was on top of the microwave stand and was hiding in the foliage...wasn't aggressive at all, just hiding.
From what part of its body we could see it looked for all the world like a cottonmouth, but we couldn't see the head. We pushed the entire plant into a large box and closed the lid. I took it out to the pond and dumped it out (it was about 2 1/2 feet long), and the head looked kinda like a cottonmouth but not quite. As it was crawling off it stopped and looked at me and the eye pupils were round. Water snake, not poisonous but they do a great imitation of a cottonmouth. Most all poisonous snakes have elliptical pupils like a cat.
Apparently it had gotten in by the dryer vent that I had replaced and I didn't put a patch over a small hole in the wall by the vent. We had some mice that had gotten in and I thing that's the way they got in also. It appears that the snake came in while "mouse hunting." I quickly patched the hole.
Wife got up one morning and found a snake that had crawled up into a potted plant that was on top of the microwave stand and was hiding in the foliage...wasn't aggressive at all, just hiding.
From what part of its body we could see it looked for all the world like a cottonmouth, but we couldn't see the head. We pushed the entire plant into a large box and closed the lid. I took it out to the pond and dumped it out (it was about 2 1/2 feet long), and the head looked kinda like a cottonmouth but not quite. As it was crawling off it stopped and looked at me and the eye pupils were round. Water snake, not poisonous but they do a great imitation of a cottonmouth. Most all poisonous snakes have elliptical pupils like a cat.
Apparently it had gotten in by the dryer vent that I had replaced and I didn't put a patch over a small hole in the wall by the vent. We had some mice that had gotten in and I thing that's the way they got in also. It appears that the snake came in while "mouse hunting." I quickly patched the hole.
I've been a snake lover my whole life. There is no question in my mind that that is indeed a Banded Water Snake. The scale pattern is the key. It looks nothing like a cottonmouth.
I was wondering if KJ was a snake man as well. I'd definitely trust his opinion.
I would have had that snake billed as a threat!
amazing what the human mind can convince itself of.
I would have had that snake billed as a threat!
amazing what the human mind can convince itself of.
Yep, I started with snakes. Spiders came later. I'm just getting back into keeping snakes. I currently have 3.
Having three counts as "just getting back into"?! I like snakes, but they are more of a shelf ornament than my Betta Splendens! At least my betta moves around during the day, lol! Oh, and the wife won't kill me in my sleep for putting the tank in our bedroom.
Whatever that east coast snake is, it sure is pretty. Don't have them out here.
-Xander
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- #20
Thanks for all the interesting discussion. I, too, noted the shape of the head and thought I had possibly come across a venomous snake. Seems it was a water snake trying to intimidate me!
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