Need snake ID

[gluesniffer]

Hey all...I'm 100% positive that the snake shown in these pictures is a non-venomous water snake, but the group of fishermen I vacation with each year is not convinced. The consensus is copperhead.

The area we fish is the LBL (Kentucky and Barkley lakes) area in KY. The area has an abundance of snakes including venomous copperheads, cotton mouths, and rattlesnakes. The ones we see the most often are like this one.

Thank you for your help


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[FWK]

You are correct, it is a Midlands Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon pleuralis). It is harmless. These feed primarily on fish and amphibians.

[eminart]

These guys always get a bad rap. It seems like if they're not being misidentified as a copperhead, they're being misidentified as a cottonmouth. That said, copperheads and cottonmouths get a bad rap too.

[gluesniffer]

Thanks guys, I'll forward this to my fishing buddies...

[jjhill001]

That said, even if it was a copperhead or cottonmouth WHY WOULD THEY TRY AND CATCH IT. If you don't wanna get bit just shoo the animal into the water with your fishing pole. Doing stupid crap like this makes you WAY more likely to be bit.

[gluesniffer]

haha, they weren't trying to catch it, they were shooting them with a sawed-off shotgun

[jjhill001]

haha, they weren't trying to catch it, they were shooting them with a sawed-off shotgun

That's not funny, that's what future mass shooters do.

[eminart]

That's not funny, that's what future mass shooters do.

While I hate to see it too, let's not overreact. Unfortunately, snakes are thought of as vermin by many (most?) people. I know lots of otherwise perfectly nice people who shoot every snake they see. It's a problem that is slowly improving, but will likely take another generation or two, especially in the south where snakes are very common.