Waverly Lake Park

The other day while bluegill fishing (to use for bait) we saw a very aggressive snake there. A lady walking by said she worked for the zoo and it was a water moccasin. Well got this from the fish and wildlife:

[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]first let me assure you that the snake was almost certainly not venomous. There are 2 kinds of venomous snakes native to Jefferson County – the Copperhead and the Timber Rattlesnake. Both are uncommon around Louisville and occur primarily in wooded habitats in the knobs region in and around Jefferson Memorial Forest. Copperheads also show up in other hilly wood areas such as Iroquois Park. [/FONT][/SIZE][FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black] [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]“Water Moccasin” is a name used by people who know little or nothing about snakes or have watched too many reruns of “Lonesome Dove” or “Call of the Wildman” on TV. Most of the time this name is mistakenly applied to harmless water snakes. In Jefferson County there are 2 of these – the Queen Snake (a relatively small brownish water snake that feeds almost entirely on crayfish) and the Northern Water Snake (a large, heavy-bodied banded snake that can grow to be well over 3 feet long and eats mostly frogs and fish – including dead fish). I suspect what you saw was a large Northern Water Snake that was trying to swallow a fish on a line or stringer, or maybe even coming after the bait. Some of the scented baits used by fishermen these days contain fish by-products and are very attractive to water snakes. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]The Cottonmouth, which is venomous, is a rare snake in our state. Populations occur in large tracts of wooded swamp in the Jackson Purchase and Western Coal Field and in similar habitats at LBL. The closest Cottonmouth sites to Louisville are in Butler and Muhlenberg counties to the southwest and Daviess County to the west. There are no native venomous water snakes in Jefferson County. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black] [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black]The grass and weeds along the edge of the water are important in keeping the soil in place along the banks. They also provide cover for young fish and wildlife such as mink, frogs, salamanders, etc. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=2][COLOR=black] [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Well, of course they're right, it's true that when people call snakes water moccasins, they're nearly always wrong (same thing for copperheads), but I don't understand the disdain for the people who refer to the species that way. "Cottonmouth" and "water moccasin" are pretty much interchangeable terms for the same species. A lot of the time they're referred to as "cotton mouth water moccasins." That wasn't John MacGregor that wrote that, was it?

What about thos RattleHeadedCopperMoccasins:confused:

Well, of course they're right, it's true that when people call snakes water moccasins, they're nearly always wrong (same thing for copperheads), but I don't understand the disdain for the people who refer to the species that way. "Cottonmouth" and "water moccasin" are pretty much interchangeable terms for the same species. A lot of the time they're referred to as "cotton mouth water moccasins." That wasn't John MacGregor that wrote that, was it

yes it was

John MacGregor
Herpetologist - Nongame Program
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort KY 40601

I too have seen the snales up there. They have gone as far to hook onto my line. I dont know snakes very well, and they scare me too much to get close to them. But my friend who goes with me there on occasion said they were just water snakes and caught one to show me he wasnt scared. He assured me they were non venemous and i was safe to be around them.

Here is some info on cotton mouths and water snakes that may help you out. [URL]http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml[/URL]
Poisonous snakes will float on top of the water were non poisonous snakes won't float there whole body out of the water most of the time you will see the head and some times the top of there back is out of the water a little.
With that being said though leave them be and let nature do it's thing , The run in's i have had with poisonous snakes is if i didn't bother them they had no intress in me what so ever and would avoid me unless i snuck up on one like i did squirrel hunting one year ( I allways were boots while hunting squirrels for this reason) and steped over a log and got struck in the back of my boot heel by a coper head man you would not believe how hard they strike it scared the crap out of me.. A couple of year ago i was at a lake were people were camping and living and had a timber rattler swim by me ( I was in my boat) and i no way to catch it and keep it were i could take to another part of the lake were no one was and release it so i had to shoot the snake It was headed for a well populated area were there was kids squirrels dogs cats and rabbits and until now i never said anything to any about it but I'm guesing the snake was almost 6 foot long.. here is a you tube vid of a cotton mouth you can see how much of his body is out of the water [URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S0G71e9JEA[/URL]
One last edit here . This is a water snake you can see how deep in the water his body is..[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEHMFQh4uw4[/url]

[QUOTE=jlawson435;493675]Well, of course they're right, it's true that when people call snakes water moccasins, they're nearly always wrong (same thing for copperheads), but I don't understand the disdain for the people who refer to the species that way. "Cottonmouth" and "water moccasin" are pretty much interchangeable terms for the same species. A lot of the time they're referred to as "cotton mouth water moccasins." That wasn't John MacGregor that wrote that, was it

yes it was

John MacGregor
Herpetologist - Nongame Program
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
#1 Sportsman's Lane
Frankfort KY 40601[/QUOTE]

Well, I always THOUGHT those were both acceptable terms for the same species, but if he says otherwise, I guess not.

I suspect that you are misinterpreting what the writer meant. I think when he said people use the name "water moccasin" incorrectly, he wasn't saying that's not a proper name for a cottonmouth, but that he meant that people are incorrectly applying the name to water snakes. That's how I interpreted the email when I first read it.


I think "water moccasin" is an even more proper name than cottonmouth, and that cottonmouth is more of a nickname, and that most herpetologists would use the names interchangebly.