Misidentified cottonmouth snake bites two students.

Turns out this snake had been kept in the classroom for several months. The teacher thought it was a harmless rat snake.

-Blast

Yikes! I hope the kids are OK. I tried to open the article but the page timed out.

Other than a cottonmouth and a rat snake both typically being black in color (not always), I don't remember a whole lot in common between the two that would trigger a misidentification, especially if they were sitting there in a classroom being closely inspected (in an aquarium, small cage, or something small like that). The triangular head, the pits in front of the nostrils, the short fat body, the white inside of the mouth - sheesh, what a science teacher!

Wow. That top picture of a cottonmouth is not like the ones I've seen (and I've seen plenty). Maybe that's a juvenile? The ones I've seen are in central and south Texas and they are invariably very dark in color, appearing almost purely black with only a few faint markings. And the heads are a much more pronounced triangular shape as I recall. And they are all fat-ish. Maybe 4 to 4-1/2 feet long and as big around as your forearm.

I guess I owe that science teacher an apology. But I would still hope that any teacher would make sure, and then make sure again, that they had correctly identified the snake. I would have pegged that upper picture you posted to be more similar to a copperhead than a cottonmouth. But again, I remember more distinct triangular heads on those too. I live in Colorado now and we don't have cottonmouths/copperheads here, so I haven't seen anything but a scattered rattlesnake for years and years.

Cottonmouths/Water Moccasins are pit vipers and have a very noticeable sensory pit organ between their eyes and nostrils.

Pit viper's heads are "triangular" and wider than the neck because of the large venom glands and muscle for squeezing the gland.

Pit vipers have vertical pupils.

The triangular head is really the most noticeable way to identify a pit viper at a distance... Unless of course it's a Rattlesnake and making noise or it's a Cottonmouth showing the threat display of a wide open mouth (which a few snakes mimic).

All I know is I give snakes one chance to seek life elsewhere, and then I get out the snake bashing club. When I discovered a rat snake behind the board I put up over one of my windows this hurricane season, I found me a stick, picked him up, and put him in the bushes where he belongs. He showed no inclination to do me harm, so I helped him on his way. Had he turned on me, I'd have splintered his carcass, and given him what Marv calls the hard goodbye.

Yeah, the triangular head/wider than neck characteristic is pretty noticeable from a safe distance in the field if you get a good look at the snake.

Getting down eye-to-eye to verify location of the sensory pit organ between the vertical-pupiled eyes and the nostrils can give more definitive identification as can the intense pain, swelling, maybe blurred vision and vomiting after it bites. Confirmation!

There are three kinds of snakes in my book.

The ones that are scared and try to bite me.
The ones that are hungry and try to hug me.
The cool ones.

I like the last, and respect them all.

That he didn't get a positive ID bothers me. I didn't know it was loaded isn't a very good excuse with snakes.

I wonder what the teacher thought the 'pit' in 'pit-viper' stood for?

There are variations within most kinds of animals. One might think that a science teacher would be able to identify the ones in THAT area. Never mind CO, CA or MT. Try TX.

"I don't know if we will allow snakes back into any of our classrooms."

Typical knee-jerk American Public School reaction. Why not disallow DANGEROUS snakes in the classroom instead?

Or continue to have dangerous snakes there so the kids (not to mention the teachers) can learn what they do look like, but actually use some care and intelligence.....? American Public School System... no, never mind.

GO, HOMESCHOOLERS!!!

Sue

The heck with the color, look at the head/neck area. Big difference...

Thank God we only have a few pit vipers (easy to identify) and the Coral Snake to worry about here in the US. You go elsewhere, and there are some pretty nasty snakes. Some of those buggers from Australia give me the shivers. Not that Africa or Asia are that much better. I'm moving to Greenland!

Antarctica, Iceland and Ireland don't have snakes, either. I guess New Zealand didn't have, until people took them there.

Personally, I'd rather live in Ireland. South of the Irish Mason-Dixon Line.

Sue

Even the experts aren't always sure which snakes are which. Particularly if it was a juvenile. Young snakes have different coloration and markings from the adult.

I caught a young snake I couldn't identify and took it to a herpetologist friend of mine who messes with local snakes. He dug out a couple of books and still couldn't tell for sure what it was. He runs a reptile shop and, just to satisfy our curiosity, he kept it and let it grow. A couple of week later it was clearly a rat snake. He offered me $20 dollars to keep it, it was worth more because it had unusual coloration. I busted the snake out of jail and let it go in the woods.

In CT that top snake with the yellow tail, would be called a juvenile copperhead. I remember water mocs as darker, with less patterning, but I haven't seen one of them in ages...

A local guy had a snake climb into the John boat he was in was in. he proceeded to try to shoot the snake with a 10/22 with a large capacity magazine. After twenty or so shots through the bottom, all misses by his account, the boat started sinking.

He was afraid in the boat but terrified having to swim to shore, seeing as the snake would be at eye level, he panicked and dropped the rifle.

He later retrieved the boat and it was usable after extensive patching but lost the rifle in the mud.

Some people just lose all rationality when faced with a snake. I never understood the need to kill snakes. I've killed two or three where I didn't have much choice but have caught and released many times that. And, assuming your forced to kill one, using firearms just doesn't make much sense to me. If you really have to kill a snake use a stick. One good swat and it breaks their back. Then you just work up toward the head. Simple.

Using a firearm is not necessarily a bad idea (especially if an irrational fear of snakes precludes you from being able to be in direct contact with it, even with a stick) but trying to shoot a snake with a .22LR can be a tough shot. I keep a couple of boxes of CCI shot shells on hand (.22LR and 40 S&W) just for snakes, although a 12ga target or bird shot round (#9 shot) is even more effective if noise is not an issue.

Jim

If you must use a gun to kill a snake, buttstoke it. It keeps the dirt out of your barrel. But you'll never shoot it unless you are using shot.