Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cottonmouth vs Toad?

That was as strong a word I could use and still be a lady

AMEN!

froggy was pissed, hence "swelled up like a toad"

hillbillybear: don't make me become the BrentD of the snake world by saying bad things about Mr. NoShoulders...

Around my part of the country when folks start telling the scary snake stories, all snakes generally become Copperhead's, or if seen anywhere within a mile of a puddle of water, "Cotton-mouthed Water Moccasin".

same snake just different names for them. just like cougar vs mountain lion.
when you killed the snake did you open it's mouth and verify the fangs were present to make sure it was a cotton mouth? also the pupil of a cotton mouth wil be vertical like a cats, if the pupil is round then it was a look alike non-venomous snake.

In SE KS we have water moccasin's. Mean, fat snakes to 4' with a short stubby tail that live around ponds. There has never been a verified sighting of a cotton mouth in KS.

We do have copperheads and rattlers. I always kill them near the farm and out buildings. We never kill blacksnakes in or around our buildings. Move a haybail or reach for a light switch. Wow! A good startle, but also a good story.

FWIW, I have read that snake bites do not affect swine.

Cotton Mouth and water moccosin are the same thing, just different names.

As they get older and grow, they become almost a dull black. On younger ones, although black, you can see very faint chevrons, almost like those of timber rattlers on the Cotton Mouth.

While very rare, they are, or were, a few north of Atlanta. I have seen two up here that I could definately identify as Cotton Mouths.

The spotted looking snakes that people often call Copper Heads and Water Moccisins are actually banded water snakes of one species or another and are non-venomous, although I would think that the bacteria in their mouths would be enough to, if not kill you, make you very sick.

These snakes are very long and slender, as opposed to short and heavy like a true Cotton Mouth and Copper Head, and rattlers. The water snake has a smaller head than pit vipers.

I am glad I live far enough north for hardly any snakes. There are rattlers starting about 30 miles south, but not right here. Just not rocky and warm enough for them, I guess.

Having done taxidermy for many years, yes, I'm sure it was what we call cottonmouth and poisonus snake. I'm aware of the fang and vertical slit eye issues to check. But ya'll didn't know I knew that much..

As to difference... here anything I see folks call a water moccasin is just an old water snake, no harm no foul. A cottonmouth is the deadly one so to speak. IE poisonus.

We have coral snakes, I had the skin of one I killed at a city water well once that was right at 22 inches long, which is pretty big... an idiot threw it out of the freezer at work before I remembered to take it home..

We have copperheads. Used to have a lot more than now. But still around.

Supposedly we have both kinds of rattlers, western diamondback and timber though I've never seen one on our place.

Its the cottonmouths that come up to the house all the time from the pond that irritate me as we have 4 dogs. The lab has been trained, the rest not... So far we've been lucky that the old mini pin, only got it by a copperhead so far.. that could have been bad as it was maybe 10 inches long but she must not have gotten enough venom...

I had a Boykin years ago...as far as I know he'd never seen a snake. I took him to the hunting club one day, and someone had killed a rattler and had the skin stretched out on a board. It was leaning in the corner. As my dog familiarized himself with the room, he cam upon this stretched out skin, recoiled from it, the hair on his back stood straight up, and he began barking frantically at it as he he carefully backed away. He damn well knew what a snake was by instinct. The funny thing is, in the next room there was a vacuum cleaner hose laying coiled up in the corner which he saw about 5 minutes after the skin...he reacted to it the same way. He'd never seen a snake, but had snake on the brain now!

my GSP did the same thing when we caught a 5 pound walleye and got it in the boat.....he was all ready to help with the 1 and 2 pounders trying to help us get them in the livewell but once a bigger fish showed up he wanted nothing to do with the livewell anymore....

wish we woulda been rigged for northers so we wouldnt have lost the 3 footer at the net, woulda been interesting to see if the dog would have staid in the boat or decided "[bleep] it im swimming"

Snakes, lizards, spiders, young wenches...same same...

Snakes are AWESOME, they eat spiders, plus when mom puts her hand down in your pants pocket to get them ready for laundry, ain't nothing like having a garter snake stuffed in there, boy talk about dancin' and yellin. My azz was sore for a week....It was well worth the whuppin.

We have Cottonmouth Moccasins and that's what we call'em.

We have slim tailed moccasins , and that's what we call 'em.

I cut a diamondback's head off with a shovel and pitched it outside the building where I found it.I forgot my young Brittany was hanging around.He went straight to the head and swallowed it.

He never showed any ill effects from it.

Now that dog needs a little snake training if in Texas, or better feed

Yep, but ain't quite the same when they crawl into you lap and purr.

yeah but most barn cats wont get near yah either



all venom is, is a specialized protein....so long as it doesnt enter the blood stream or lymphatic system your fine.....so long as you dont have an ulcer you could drink a glass of cobra venom with no ill effects.....your stomach acid will destroy it....

so long as your dog didnt get poked with a fang when he ate the hea it wasnt gonna hut him....had he gotten poked the outcome coulda been quite different...

Exactly but to many folks any snake swimming in the water is automatically a water moccasin.. 99% are actually banded water snakes.

I've found the biggest, stinkinest, meanest, moccasins not in clean moving water, but in stagnant, muddy, mucky swamps. Places that are also good hog wallers. Seen them bigger around than the lower part of a man's leg and the tail blunt...like the end of a broomstick.

We have Cotton's in NC..the piedmont east to the coast.. Killed many of them with I was a kid,just not enough of them...