Went for a little ride and WOW! (DUW)

I went for a little ride in the Pearl River WMA to see if I could spot any animals to photograph.....and about 15 minutes into the trip, I spotted this little beautiful baby :D

http://danielhillreptiles.com/New%20Folder/WM/wm4.jpg

http://danielhillreptiles.com/New%20Folder/WM/wm3.jpg

http://danielhillreptiles.com/New%20Folder/WM/wm2.jpg

LOL...I took this last one "Austin Stevens" style...no zoom! :O

http://danielhillreptiles.com/New%20Folder/WM/wm1.jpg

Wow beautiful snake ! Is that a copperhead? Im still learning what is what lol.

looks like a moccassin to me. i dont know though. do baby moccassins have lighter colors/pattern? doesnt look like a copperhead to me and the side of the face is black. moccassin trait, right?

Well reason I think it may possibly be a copperhead is I read they have yellow tails when they are young. Im not sure tho was just a guess for me .

Yep....a cottonmouth ;) They are beautiful when they are young. I would have gotten a 'cotton' mouth picture for everyone, but two trucks came down the road when I was taking the last picture... so I had to scury to move this guy to safety ;) I set him on the shoulder of the road....then moved my truck out the center of the road(it was blocking any oncoming trucks from running me over)....and when I went back to look for it...it had moved on ;)

It's definitely a cottonmouth (aka water moccasin). And it's beautiful! How close did you actually get to it, Daniel? Those pictures are amazing!

Wow, Daniel. Great find and GREAT pics! :gj:

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Originally Posted by Sinsation

Well reason I think it may possibly be a copperhead is I read they have yellow tails when they are young. Im not sure tho was just a guess for me .

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Yeah, young copperheads can also have a yellow tail. And the coloration of that fella does look very similar to a copperhead. But the banding pattern would not quite fit, nor the really dark colored head.

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Originally Posted by JLC

How close did you actually get to it, Daniel?

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It was so little that I could get real close without any worry.....but for the last picture(set of pictures..I have more ;))....I was holding the camera lense right to its face...lol...however I did use the timed photo shot because my camera's shot button was only about 2-3 in. from its head.....and no way was I putting my finger that close just to push the button :D

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

.....I was holding the camera lense right to its face...lol...

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LOL....I wonder what the snake thought of that?

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Originally Posted by Sinsation

Well reason I think it may possibly be a copperhead is I read they have yellow tails when they are young. Im not sure tho was just a guess for me .

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Not a bad guess, either. Both cottonmouths & copperheads are members of the genus Agkistrodon, so they're fairly closely related. Good eye & attention to detail there! :sweeet:

K~

Thanks for the info Judy :) . Gonna go look up more of those, they are so pretty.

Daniel...fantastic pics!!! Simply fantastic!! These bring back a lot of memories from my TX herping days. :) Nice find in the field, and beautiful photos to capture the moment. Thanks for sharing them with the rest of us. :D

Thanks all!

Here is another pic....not one of the best....but you get to see how much of a chunker this one was....definately one of the fattest baby cottonmouths that I have ever seen....life must be good in the swamp this year ;)

http://danielhillreptiles.com/New%20Folder/WM/wm5.jpg

Nice shots!! I love how in that last pic he looks all fat. That tail is so cute. When you said you moved him off the road and on the shoulder I almost had a heart attack!!! I though you meant you put him on your shoulder!! j/k of course

The last one made my spine tingle for some reason...

I was under the impression that Cottonmouths were a dark green? Lol. I have no idea why...

Great pics Daniel.
Was he pretty calm for you? We ran into a little one like that in Arkansas while fishing and he was fiesty. We did not have a camera with us, but I don't think we could have got anywhere near that close!!!!

Neil

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Originally Posted by bpkid

The last one made my spine tingle for some reason...

I was under the impression that Cottonmouths were a dark green? Lol. I have no idea why...

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Cottonmouths turn almost black in the winter and the summer due to their habbitat. Because of when they hach out in the fall they are colored the same as the leaf litter. And yea they are just as deadly as mom or dad.

Great Pics Daniel. I will have to get some of mine up I got them of coach whips, rat snakes, rattlers and even the odd smooth earth snake.. LOL

This is a dark one http://spectrum.troy.edu/~diamond/Fi...ottonmouth.jpg

this is a light one
http://www.carolinanature.com/herps/...mouth3666a.jpg

It was extreamly calm.....did not even fuss when I was really close to it.....however, when I moved it to the shoulder of the road it struck at me 3 time in the 10 ft. that I walked with it on the hook ;)

He was on the warm road. And you woke him up

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

He was on the warm road. And you woke him up

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Lucky for him too ;) .... He was on the road that leads to the rifle range in the WMA......high traffic area :(

...and it couldn't have been over a week or two old. With its clear coloration I would not be surprised if it had just had its first shed. I have a picture at the house (not a good one) that shows the size of it. I will have to post it later ;)

aww i wish we had herps like that over here in the uk great photos dude
there gorgeus :D , although i love all three of our uk snakes and i love our brit lizards too :)

Looks like he was humming, "I'm too sexy for my scales, too sexy for my scales, too sexy!" He's a model at heart. Cute!

beautiful little cottonmouth! They are so pretty as babies... nice shots as well. :)

Justin

My what an old thread...=)