sad story

[rustie]

i was driving last night and saw a snake in the road. i stopped to move it out of the road cuz it looked like it hadnt been hit yet. it was a black snake in a swampy area so i needed a large stick to move it, incase it was a cotton mouth. well i found a stick and was heading for it when some jask *** hit it right infront of me. what a waste of effort.
it gets worse. it wasnt dead but it looked as if some guts came out its vent. so i used the branch and picked it up. well some guts fell out, only they wernt guts. they were babys. i then noticed 6 or so babys in the road, all dead. one that fell out when i picked it up was alive. i took the mom off the road only to have 1 more live one come out. i did how ever see 2 come out that yawned and croked. sad sad sad. on the curb however were 2 more that were being eaten by ants, one was a goner, the other i managed to save.
so i positivly identified the mom and babies (they babies actually gave it away) as a midland water snake. i now have 3 little healthy babies. i believe they are frog eaters, but was wondering if i could get them on pinkies. i am considering on giving them to a local eco park where they have snakes like these. i also think its a little rare to find a midland here in orlando fl.
anyone know about these snakes? should i keep 1? i have 8 other snakes, with 3 yrs exerience. i just dont know to much about the breed. the mom was a nice snake, keeled scales, dark with green and yellow side triangles. any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Colonel SB]

Man that sucks if it were me I'd keep one of t he babies, I'm glad that you saved some of the babies.

[Vanan]

That IS a really sad story. Don't be disheartened as there will always be a reptile out there needing your help. Focus on the babies.

Water snakes are pretty easy to get started. Almost all will readily take live minnows. Just drop some in their water bowl. As they grow a lil bigger (once they've had a few meals) you could try scenting a pink with fish and feeding it. Keep in mind that an all rodent diet has been known to cause fatty liver disease in some natricines. An occasional pink and occasional fish. Always whole fish, no fillets.

Good luck!

[Alan311]

Man i know alot of people who will just run over snakes... there so careless focus on there life and there life only.... uggg well im glad u saved the babys :)

[Tim and Julie B]

Well I am glad you could a least save some of the babies. I guess you were there for a reason. Good luck and I hope that you have sucess with the little ones.

[crimsonking]

Nice that you saved the few you did. The ssp. is wrong however if you found her in Orlando, FL. You need to positively I.D. the snakes. We have brown, FL.banded, and FL. greens here, but no midlands. Post a pic for positive I.D. Good work saving them.
:Mark

[rustie]

well now it gets worst, for me. i left them at a my friends house, thats around where it happened. he had some snake experts come over, ignmorant red necks who know all there is to know about snakes, and they swore up and down that they were cotton mouths. idiots, cotton mouth babies are lighter than the mom and have a charcoal tail. these babies were almost a identical in color to the mom. maybe im wrong but when we opened up the dead moms mouth there were no fangs, and we searched a while. no pits on the nose like pit vipers have. so i am pretty sure they wernt poisonous. but my good ole buddy believed these convincing dumba$$es and took their suggestion and offed them. i should have never left them with him to begin with.
crimson, i got pics and ill try to post them, they are on his camera so it will be a hastle cause i now hate him. they could be FL. greens though. im using this site to id them and its a little hard to follow http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/fl-guide/onlineguide.htm .
even if they were cotton's he should have released them. i feel like a complete jerk entrusting him with them. those ignorant fools with the miss information probably see any dark snake kill them. im so pissed

*nothing against red necks, just ignorant people in general.

[Vanan]

Whaddya mean "offed" them? *cringe*

[SCReptiles]

I think you can safely assume they were not cottons. Color patterns can be tricky, but I do not know of any babies being born without the sulfur tail. Shame what happened to them. The irony is these snakes mimic the cotton to protect themselves and that often gets them killed.