Cottonmouths

[shaggybill]

I have a friend who lives on the border of Kentucky and Indiana and he claims that there are cottonmouths around his house. But according to all the field guides I've been looking at, there arent any in that area. What do you guys think?

[BWSmith]

Possibly a Western Cotton (A piscovorus leucostoma). But also possibly a Water Snake. That area seems to be able to go in either direction. Without a pic of the snake he is seeing, it is hard to tell for sure.

[Monty Python]

It's entirely possible. They have been found all over the south/eastern US. I wouldn't go poking around too much, though...they have also been known to approach humans out of sheer curiousity. I don't want to be around when he feels like doing a taste test!

[Nightflight99]

That would have to be Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma, if it was indeed a cottonmouth, and not Nerodia. The western cottonmouth has been documented in the KT counties west of the Tennessee River and in the Western Coal Field. In Indiana, the species is found only in the extreme southwestern part of the state, and considered to be endangered there.

@Monty Python:

I wouldn't go poking around too much, though...they have also been known to approach humans out of sheer curiousity. I don't want to be around when he feels like doing a taste test!

While cottonmouths are known for their curious disposition, they are by no means what one would consider to be aggressive. To the contrary, most specimens are very calm, and will prefer to gape at the perceived danger, if anything. Its usually captive born specimens that tend to be a bit more brave in their behavior. Nevertheless, the danger that is commonly (mis-)perceived from wild cottonmouths is vastly overstated, and mostly rooted in misconceptions and old-wife-tales.

Regards,

---Nightflight99