Mocassin not for foot wear
May 18, 2010 by mike

I have hiked most of the good trails in Oklahoma and occasionally come across rattle snakes and other unfriendly characters.  But none comes close to being as hostile as this species of snake.   The water moccasin isn’t afraid of anybody, which means they’ll come right up to you for their photograph.

Edit: A closer look:

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5 Comments »

  1. May 18, 2010 by Aaron

    Hi there, Michael. At first glance this looks like a harmless watersnake. Do you have a higher resolution copy that I could zoom in on?

  2. May 18, 2010 by mike

    Hello, Aaron. You raise a good question. On closer inspection this may be what I’ve known as a diamond back watersnake that I’ve seen there in Fourche Maline Creek before. I’ll defer to the experts, so what do you think?

  3. May 18, 2010 by sgtboz

    Looks like a watersnake to me but the mocassin angle is a lot more exciting…particular since I’ve been charged by them before when turning over a boat without knocking on it adequately first!

  4. May 18, 2010 by Aaron

    Thanks for the cropped photo, Michael. This is definitely a watersnake, and most likely the diamondback (Nerodia rhombifer). What county was this in? I’ve seen some in McCurtain County that had aberrant patterns and I really had to look them over to key them out to N. rhombifer.

  5. May 19, 2010 by mike

    This is at Robbers Cave State Park, in the upper reaches of Lake Carlton as the Fourche Maline Creek flows into it, in Latimer County. I had seen a similar snake a year ago at the approximate same location that I had identified as a diamond back watersnake, so I should have figured this fella was the same.

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