11/20/10 A Herpetology Lesson About Water Snakes

     These two pictures were taken my supervisor at work. The top picture is a young Florida Banded Water Snake and the lower picture is a Water Moccasin. The Banded Water Snake is non-poisonous and the Water Moccasin is poisonous.
     Water Moccasins have an undeserved reputation for being mean. I have not found this to be true, on my two encounters with them. They do have an aura about them and for me anyway you can tell them apart from a long distance.
     Many thousands of non-poisonous water snakes (Florida has Brown Water Snakes, Altlantic Water Snakes, Mangrove Water Snakes, Green Water Snakes and Banded Water Snakes) are killed because people think every snake they see in the water is a Water Moccasin. Personally I would never kill a Water Moccasin either.