I almost ran over this guy while taking flower pictures in the lebanon this morning. I'm not a snake guy, so can anyone help me ID him. I'd guess he was about 2 1/2 feet long maybe
Snake ID Help
- Thread starter fierodoug
- Start date
yes mean as hell but not venemous.frequently mistaken for a cottonmouth water moccasin of which we have none of those anywhere near here anyway.
Thanx. He gave me one strike attempt, but otherwise let me get quite a few shots in before I let him be.
Northern water snake-Nerodia sipedon (Nero = water in Greek). Nice markings on that one! Yes they are aggressive, and also musk and poop readily when handled. Their saliva has an anticoagulant in it that makes the wound bleed more. They are pretty snakes, although a lot of the admiration is in the eye of the beholder, I'm sure. The younger ones have more pronounced markings, as they tend to fade over time when exposed to tannins and other organic matter in the water. Thanks for the pic.
I was hiking last weekend up in Ringwood and as we approached a brook near the picnic area at the end of the trail a mother and her children were gatherer around a snake basking on a rock at water's edge. The woman called us over to look at it, also saying she didn't know what kind it was. As I came closer I noticed it was a distinctly "copper" shade of brown an warned them to back away. Considering the part of the state we were in, I considered its being a copperhead a real possibility. Luckily it was just a northern water snake. And even luckier, it was too cold out for it to be active enough to show its true personality to all those kids!
I had an uncle who was very into snakes when I was growing up.He knew his snakes very well.He got a call from a friend once who told him he had a Copperhead in his yard under a board in Vineland.My uncle said impossible,Copperheads do not live in south Jersey.The guy insisted he come and look so he did.He flipped over the board and he said there was a northern copperhead.This was in down town Vineland not far from Landis avenue.My uncle believed it escaped from captivity.Thtas the only Coppperhead sighting I have heard of in South Jersey.
I hear about those water moccasin sightings in NJ once in a great while too, but dammit I've never seen one! 
Yeah. NICE watersnake. Water moccassin are not native to any area north of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia on the East Coast. Spent a lot of years looking for snakes in New Jersey and caught them and kept them for observation before it was illegal to do so. Watersnakes like this feed well on frogs and fish, but they never tame down. Nice observation critter but never makes a pet.
Trust me, any REAL water moccasins - the Pit Viper - that may be in New Jersey are there because somebody put them there. And copperheads and rattlers are verey rare in New Jersey - especially the latter. There is supposed to be a Timber Rattler population in the Mount Misery area in South Jersey and up in the highlands of northwest Jersey, but they are not found any longer outside that range.
Too many cars, dogs, cats, and people who kill them. Also Deer stomp them to death.
Trust me, any REAL water moccasins - the Pit Viper - that may be in New Jersey are there because somebody put them there. And copperheads and rattlers are verey rare in New Jersey - especially the latter. There is supposed to be a Timber Rattler population in the Mount Misery area in South Jersey and up in the highlands of northwest Jersey, but they are not found any longer outside that range.
Too many cars, dogs, cats, and people who kill them. Also Deer stomp them to death.
The northernmost population of Cottonmouth (Akistrodon piscovorus) supposedly resides in Richmond Va city park,not far north of the Dismal swamp as you said.Cottonmouths like slow moving water,mainly swamps so while they might survive here is released I don't see how they would get here on their own.They would have to cross two bodies of salt water,the Chesapeake and delaware bays a definite obstacle to a freshwater snake or they would have to head into the hilly Piedmont and Ridge and valley provinces and deal with fast water and Copperheads along with suburban sprawl and then cross the delaware up by Trenton and then come south to get into the Barrens.Quite a journey for a snake.
When a kid I had grownups swear that what I had caught was a Moccasin and was poisonous (no such thing as a poisonous snake) so I would let the snake bite me.Upon seeing i suffered no ill effects they would promptly claim that that one was a regular water snake but that cottonmouths looked just like them and were every where????
When a kid I had grownups swear that what I had caught was a Moccasin and was poisonous (no such thing as a poisonous snake) so I would let the snake bite me.Upon seeing i suffered no ill effects they would promptly claim that that one was a regular water snake but that cottonmouths looked just like them and were every where????
Upon seeing i suffered no ill effects they would promptly claim that that one was a regular water snake but that cottonmouths looked just like them and were every where????
Hard to fight ignorance and fear with logic. Ophidiophobes are a difficult lot to convert.
My Dad refused to catch my first snake for me at age eight when he uncovered a neonate kingsnake under the dog house when he was moving it.I wanted it bad and he though not afraid of snakes at all Basicall told me "Boy reach down and grab a set"I wanted it that bad and reached down and grabbed the snake instead,(the kingsnake).I have been hooked ever since.