Cottonmouth (Pretty Lame, But...)

[Nanci]

Hey, it's the first adult I've ever seen! I was mountain biking (more like desperately trying to avoid needing CPR while on a bike) and my friend was way ahead, and when I caught up to him at a split, he'd detained this big guy for me to see. Unfortunately, the snake was in very deep grass, and I didn't want to mess with him (I know, unusual for me, but he was venomous!). Of course I didn't have my camera, but my cell phone has a 2 megapixel camera, so I at least got a shot that would have been decent if it wasn't for all the grass...

The details: 80F, 5:00 PM, partly cloudy, going to rain, prairie 50 feet from woods, 1/4 mile from water.

Voila! Mr. Cottonmouth!

Thanks for looking!

Nanci

Besides Mr. Cottonmouth, I saw about 20 deer that were so unafraid they seemed animatronic...

 

[snakewispera snr]

You didn't feel the need to pick it up then,even for a better photo..LOL
MIKE

 

[Nanci]

No, for some reason I didn't. I didn't feel the need to get a pic from the front end, either. Now when I found a coral snake that was rapidly disappearing into the brush, I did feel the need to grab its tail and haul it back out onto the trail so I could catch it and identify it. (Dang it's hard to remember the rhyme in time of need! All I could come up with was "black and yellow, black and yellow...") (Finally I decided that if it had a black snout, it was a coral. I kind of had shivers, then.) Now I've seen enough corals that I could ID by body shape, plus I have two tri-colored snakes, so the red/yellow would really stand out as wrong. And of course, no camera. I'll probably never see one again.

Nanci

 

[Rich in KY]

Very nice pic!

 

[Drewby07]

Black and Yellow, kill a fellow.....

OR

Blank and Yellow, you're a dead fellow....... :sidestep:

 

[MooreSnakes]

wait, isn't it

Red and Black, friend of Jack
Red and Yellow, kill a fellow?

 

[Nanci]

Black and Yellow, kill a fellow.....

OR

Blank and Yellow, you're a dead fellow....... :sidestep:

See- you can't remember either! Red and black, friend of Jack, red and yellow, kill a fellow! Everything has black and yellow!!

 

[Drewby07]

LOL! Oh well I guess I'm dead. Good thing I've never seen either in the wild...I'd SURELY pick up the wrong one and be SURE it was non-poisonous.

 

[Nanci]

Well, you can pick a coral snake up, you just have to be careful. The one I picked up was definitely eager to bite.

Nanci

 

[Nanci]

I kind of want this bumper sticker...(But I already have "My Cottonmouth Bit Your Honor Student" and I don't want my truck to look too junky.)

Nanci

 

[Okeetee_Corn_Snakes]

Awesome pictures. The only venemous snakes here are western rattle snakes and western hognose but pfft...those are a joke! They are just too cute!

 

[MooreSnakes]

gotta love those hoggies :grin01:

 

[nitetygress]

I think the saying is "If red touches black you're ok Jack, Red touches yellow you're a dead fellow."

 

[jaxom1957]

Red and Black, friend of Jack
Red and Yellow, kill a fellow?

There have been many variations on the mneumonic. I've always used, "Red with yellow, kill a fellow; red with black, venom lack,"

Then again, I don't know Jack. :grin01:

 

[jaxom1957]

See- you can't remember either! Red and black, friend of Jack, red and yellow, kill a fellow! Everything has black and yellow!!

The phrase refers to which colored bands are adjacent. "Red with black" refers to a snake with the sequence Yellow / Black / Red / Black / Yellow, etc. The red band doesn't touch the yellow band. "Red with yellow" refers to a snake with red and yellow bands adjacent to each other.

 

[SkyChimp]

Cool pic, Nanci.

I haven't seen a cottonmouth all summer - and our local lake is loaded with them.

Curiously, I've seen three copperheads this year, which are very rare in my area.

 

[CALIVIK]

Nanci Wow! What a grt pic your friend stopped him in his tracks & hellllooooo...mouth wide open...lol

Now lets talk about this "friend"....hehe :grin01:

 

[JaimeP]

I've always heard "black TOUCH yellow kills a fellow"
...strange all the different versions that get around.

 

[Nanci]

They ALL have black touching yellow.

 

[wax32]

Red touch yellow, kills a fellow. Red touch black, venom lack. Is the way I learnt it.

Nice water moccasin Nanci! I almost steped on one a couple of times when I was younger. Saw one in a ditch while playing golf recently, didn't have my camera with me though.