What we have here is the Florida Cottonmouth also know under Water Moccasin, which are the third most dangerous snake in Florida.
Most bites from this snakes are not fatal but they do cause a lot of pain and tissue damage.
The Venom of this snake is much like the venom of the diamondback rattlesnake as a ver potent hemotoxic. Cottonmouths are found usually near water.
The color of the cottonmouth is very dark, with banding and it’s light underneath its belly with dark brown blotches.
Most of us will identify this snake by looking at the horizontal strip on the side of its head.
This strip is outline in a lighter shad of color. Clearly visible from the distance and no need to get too close in order to identify the snake.
But it can be difficult to tell a harmless water snake from a cottonmouth.
So what most people should do if they see a snake in water or on land, just leave it alone.
Now we’re going to extract some venom from a cottonmouth.
This is the venom of the cottonmouth, which is very similar to the venom of the diamondback rattlesnake.
The venom of this snake happens to be the same color as the venom of the diamondback's venom.
It is also a hemotoxic venom, causing tissue damage hemorrhaging when bitten by these snakes.
But usually the venom of the cottonmouth is not quite as fatal as that of the diamondback rattlesnake.
Cottonmouths are ambush predators on land. They lay and wait camouflaged in their environment.
When small mammals or amphibians like frogs come by, the snake will strike and grab himself a meal.
The primary food for cottonmouths is fish, amphibians, small reptiles even baby alligators and other snakes.
When these snakes swim through the water, they normally swim on the surface of the water.
The angulate their body from side to side, propelling them across the surface of the water.
The harmless water snakes, which looks similar are often mistaken as cottonmouths.
In the picture below we see the water snake being almost submerged beneath the surface of the water.
As you can see in the picture above, the cottonmouth swims with two thirds of its body exposed above the water surface.
In the old days, the US government will send soldiers to drive the indians out of Florida’s swamps.
Native Americans had many strategies to protect themselves by utilizing venomous snakes.
The indians will hang cottonmouths from trees by leather straps, or place them into alligator dens that where below the ground.
When the soldiers would move through the surface of the ground, they would be bitten by these snakes inside the alligator dens.
As the soldiers travel through the swamps with a huge cottonmouth population, they would be bitten on many occasions by not wearing proper foot wear.
The indians would protect themselves by wrapping palm thatches around their legs as the traveled through...
this snake invested areas and the snakes were unable to bite through the protective palm thatches.