Deadly Baby

[dinodan]

This is a young Cottonmouth snake, also known as a Water Moccasin. Taken in the wild at a nature preserve near my home in Charleston. He must have been asleep, as he was perfectly still, allowing me to shoot this with a 300mm lens at f/32 for about 1.5 seconds. Even though he's just a little guy, I didn't want to get too close as these snakes are deadly...

 

[Neophyte Photographer]

are you sure its a cottonmouth? Looks more like a copperhead to me. They are often found in the same areas.

 

[dinodan]

Hmm, maybe. The park ranger told us that he thought it was a cottonmouth, that they have the bright coloration when they're young, which causes them to be mistaken for copperheads. I guess the jury is still out... He's real tiny, probably no more than 8 or 9 inches long.

 

[Neophyte Photographer]

interesting...i'll look into it

 

[Cheesewheel]

The markings look wrong for a copperhead, so it probably is a cottonmouth. I'm no snake-ologist though, but that park ranger hopefully knows what he was talking about

Nice pic by the way! :thumbup:

 

[Neophyte Photographer]

based on the following links i'm sticking with copperhead

where were you when you found it btw?

Scroll down to Copperhead and cottonmouth

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/Venomsnk.htm

Closer Comparison

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology/FL-GUIDE/compare3.htm

 

[drgibson]

It's a Copperhead.

 

[dinodan]

based on the following links i'm sticking with copperhead

where were you when you found it btw?

Here...

http://www.beidlerforest.com/Visit.html

 

[dbyrd]

Hard to tell what it is, looks like a young cottonmouth. The darken with age. Copperheads live under my porch and I am always having to jump over them. Much rather be bitten by a copperhead vs a cottonmouth!

 

[dinodan]

Hard to tell what it is, looks like a young cottonmouth. The darken with age. Copperheads live under my porch and I am always having to jump over them. Much rather be bitten by a copperhead vs a cottonmouth!

Opinions seem to be about evenly divided. I still say cottonmouth as well. If one looks closely, one can see the beginning of the dark band under the eye as described in the 2nd link in post #6...