Photo © 2006 Jim Jung All rights reserved.

25 - Cottonmouths give birth

The Cottonmouth - also called a Water Moccasin - is an inhabitant of swamps and heavily vegetated margins of sluggish rivers where it feeds on fish, frogs, other snakes and rarely carrion. As snakes in our region go it has a fairly short fuse and is one of the very few snakes that will advance toward a threat. However this advance is a bluff and once the intruder backs up the snake usually beats a hasty retreat for the safety of water.

Cottonmouths are poisonous, thick-bodied pit vipers (like Copperheads and Rattlesnakes) which reach about three feet when mature and get their common name from the snow white lining of their mouths which, when threatened, they open. If pressed they also vibrate their tails and if they happen to be in a drift of dried leaves they can sound like their near relative the Rattlesnake.

Typical body type

Photo © 2006 Jim Jung All rights reserved.

Except for a small, apparently disjunct colony near Fults in Monroe County, Cottonmouths in Illinois are restricted to the lowest three tiers of the southern counties. Another colony used to exist near East St. Louis in the 19th century but has apparently been extirpated. Populations of this snake are fairly uncommon but where they do occur they can be a very abundant species.

Cottonmouths are ovoviviparous - the eggs are retained within the mother's body until the young snakes hatch out. Like all of our pit vipers baby Cottonmouths have a light ground color and darker bands with a bright yellow tail tip when newborn and then darken with age. Mature adults are almost black in most specimens in our area but many - especially when distended after feeding - still retain some trace of their juvenile markings.

Unless cornered, or captured and handled, these snakes present no hazard or danger of any sort to humans. They're restricted to deep-water swamps and similar habitats and never willingly trespass into areas normally frequented by humans. Their prey consists of diseased and injured individuals thus maintaining healthy fish and frog populations in the wild. Cottonmouth populations are declining - primarily due to habitat modification - and any remaining populations should be left in peace.

Offsite link: Wikipedia's Agkistrodon Piscivorus page.

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