The Water Moccasin or Cottonmouth

That beauty is the water moccasin aka cotton mouth. The picture shows clearly how it got it’s common name also in some locales it is known as lock jaw for the same reason. Note the head held low and cocked at a 45 degree angle, this is the classic warning pose of theAgkistrodon species (moccasin and copperhead) our other pit vipers (rattlesnakes) will hold the head elevated and level often curling the upper body back in a S to prepare for the strike. For this reason the strike distance is greater with the rattlesnakes then the moccasin or copperhead but still no more than one third the length of the body. Also very distinctive on the water moccasin is the “square” sided head. Both the water snakes (Nerodia species) and the water moccasins share the keeled scales (the ridge down the center of each scale) and are commonly confused for this reason plus many of the water snakes are similarly colored but the square sided head is unique to the water moccasin as are the vertical slit pupils, all other non venomous snakes have round pupils.

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