🚀 go-pugleaf

Seth Fehrs <fehrs002@mc.duke.edu> wrote:
>Water mocs & rattlers are not in the triangle area.  I believe 
>the southern part of NC is the northern limit for water mocs.
>I know the eastern diamondback is still in the southern 
>Appalachians as a friend has seen them.  If I remember correctly 
>they still cling to coastal marsh areas too.
I've never seen a rattler in my yard or woods, but I absolutely, 100%
guarantee you that I encountered a cotton mouth in the stream behind
our house.  I know that they look like, having spent an entire summer
on an island in Arkansas as a kid.  

During that summer, we'd take the canoe out to drift down the bayou
and would always take along a little 9-shot .22 revolver to make the
snakes into good snakes.  When shooting a cotton mouth (usually draped
in branches about 3' above the water), they would ALWAYS swim straight
to the boat if not killed outright.  Unlike most snakes, the cotton
mouth is aggressive and will charge or swim TOWARD a human instead of
away.  

The one I saw in the creek behind our house was about 30" long and as
big around in the middle as my fist.  They're fat, black suckers with
an absolutely white mouth.  

When I saw him, I returned to the house, where I got my shotgun and
made him into a good snake instantly.  This technique- or the use of a
shovel- also worked well on the 2-3 copperheads I see each year.
Black, garter and king snakes are left alone to do their "snake
thing."

Tom

Tom