i have alot of friends who argue with me about cottonmouths living in Jersey and i dont believe they do, do they?
cottonmouths
- Thread starter snakesoldiers22
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snakesoldiers22 said:
No, they don't. The "cottonmouth" or "water mocassin" reaches the northern extreme of its coastal plain range in Dismal Swamp, in SE Virginia, and its mid-continent northern extreme at the southern tip of Illinois (or used to about 50 years ago...)
Dave
I love it!
Cottonmouths . . . water moccosins in NJ have always been a topic that bothered me. Probably its been the numerous boasts i've heard over the years of brave individuals who've seen cottonmouths and killed them spit spat. I even had a cop brag about how he shot six in one day (on vacation), then proceed to argue with me over the fact that there isn't a wild cottonmouth within a few hundred miles of here. Not that killing innocent cottonmouths without any cause is justified . . . but knowing they were all watersnakes being hacked apart and shot up because of (everyone's) ignorance . . . it just infuriates me. Being wrong about something -- everyone does that. But it just seems like people cling to this erroneous belief as if it promised them salvation in the afterlife.
I eventually have to resort to: "listen--we are biologists who specialize in reptiles and amphibians. there are NO cottonmouths anywhere near here."
Its funny . . . showing them a published fieldguide isn't enough to make them believe . . . but swallow my b.s. like a spoonful of warm oatmeal on a cold winter morning. Blows my mind that a popular publication is less believable than the word of a man 30 credits short of his "official status".
-Bob
Cottonmouths . . . water moccosins in NJ have always been a topic that bothered me. Probably its been the numerous boasts i've heard over the years of brave individuals who've seen cottonmouths and killed them spit spat. I even had a cop brag about how he shot six in one day (on vacation), then proceed to argue with me over the fact that there isn't a wild cottonmouth within a few hundred miles of here. Not that killing innocent cottonmouths without any cause is justified . . . but knowing they were all watersnakes being hacked apart and shot up because of (everyone's) ignorance . . . it just infuriates me. Being wrong about something -- everyone does that. But it just seems like people cling to this erroneous belief as if it promised them salvation in the afterlife.
I eventually have to resort to: "listen--we are biologists who specialize in reptiles and amphibians. there are NO cottonmouths anywhere near here."
Its funny . . . showing them a published fieldguide isn't enough to make them believe . . . but swallow my b.s. like a spoonful of warm oatmeal on a cold winter morning. Blows my mind that a popular publication is less believable than the word of a man 30 credits short of his "official status".
-Bob
I know. I think we had this disscussion before. It is amazing how many people are convinced that anything remotely resembling a watersnake is a cottonmouth. These same people expect a medal for killing them. It is frustrating.