- Holy cow, we have got a huge water moccasin.
Wow that is a massive snake.
Oh, did you see that?
This is the largest water moccasin, I have ever seen,
an incredibly dangerous snake.
(dramatic music)
(eerie music)
With the setting of the hot Florida sun,
comes the rise of it's nocturnal predators.
Some of these creatures, like the American alligator
are not the kind of foe you would ever want to stumble upon
while out exploring in the Everglades.
And despite the fact that alligators rarely attack humans,
their natural instinct is to hunt
under the cover of darkness.
All the more reason to steer clear
of their environments at night.
On this humid evening, we are back in route
towards civilization after filming a selection
of sunset B-roll shots.
Traveling the back roads at night, believe it or not,
is actually a great place to stumble upon a variety
of snake species that slither up from the swampy waters
and onto the asphalt to absorb the daytime's remaining heat.
Much to our delight, this is exactly the scenario
we encounter and you are now about to witness
one of America's most dangerous snakes.
Holy cow, okay, I got the GoPro rolling,
Mario get the lights, get the lights,
give me that snake tong.
We have got a huge water moccasin.
- [Cameraman] Here, here, here.
- Give me this, give me this.
It's like right in the middle of the road.
Go slow, go slow.
Mark kill the car.
Keep the lights on now.
Wow, holy cow.
That is the biggest water moccasin I have ever seen.
Wow, look at that snake, that thing is huge.
While (mumbles) we've got the lights out,
massive water moccasin just in front of his here.
You can't tell how big it is on the GoPro
but it is massive.
- [Cameraman] That is a huge water moccasin.
- It's starting to move.
It's curling into it's outer ball.
I'm gonna try to come up this side of it,
that's exactly what we want right there.
You see how it's curling up into a tight little ball?
Perfect defensive pose right there.
Wow, that is a massive snake.
That's the water moccasin for you right there,
the quintessential cottonmouth.
I'm definitely gonna keep my snake tongs
in between me and the snake.
These snakes are capable of striking
up to three feet in length.
It will lunge it's entire body forward.
You can see it's puffing itself up right now,
trying to be bigger, saying I'm a big snake.
Yes, we are aware that you're a big snake,
in fact, this is the largest water moccasin
I have ever seen.
Mario go ahead and zoom in on the back of his tail there.
See that little wiggling of the tail,
mimicking the movements of a rattlesnake,
trying to warn me, back up I am agitated.
You can see he's puffing up his body now.
Whew, ooh did you see that?
- [Cameraman] Yeah.
- I barely even moved, brought the snake tongs back
and it struck at me.
Look at the position that his head is in right now, okay.
I'm gonna do this, I wanna test the distance
of his strike here.
See if he's gonna strike again.
Okay, he's got his back to you Mark
which is good for you not necessarily good for me.
- [Cameraman] Oh.
- Did you see that?
Another strike, okay, I've kind of tested his limits.
You still got an okay shot there?
- [Cameraman] Yeah.
- Look at how heavy body this snake is.
There's no way you would mistake a water moccasin
of this size for just a normal water snake.
And often times those two species
are confused for each other.
As you guys know, we've done that episode in the past.
We've compared the water moccasin to the water snake
and at that point we compared two snakes
that are similar size.
This thing is an absolute giant.
One way to easily identify a moccasin
when it's fully adult like this,
look at the banding right on the side of the face.
Mario see if you can zoom it on that there.
Wow, it just bit the tongs, did you see that?
Okay, completely spun it's body around,
go ahead and zoom in there.
Get a good shot.
Yep.
Now if the snake does decide to take off,
Mario, Mark, you both just get up
and I'll get ahold of it with the tongs
or get in front of it.
There you go, now you can get a better idea
of just how long this snake is.
I'd say it's close to three and a half feet in length.
An incredibly dangerous snake.
Now when I say this moccasin is big,
it's almost an understatement.
I wanna give you guys something for scale.
What I'm gonna do is actually move the GoPro
with the snake tongs in close to the snake.
Ooh, he struck right out at the camera.
Guess he doesn't like GoPros.
So you can have something in there for scale.
You see that?
- [Cameraman] Oh yeah.
- So that's a GoPro next to the head of that snake.
The snake's head is almost as large as the GoPro is.
When it comes to the girth of it's body,
I would say in circumference, it's probably close
to six or seven inches and the length of the snake
is around three to three and a half feet.
This is without question the largest water moccasin
I have ever seen.
Now as you know the water moccasin
has a very popular nickname, the cottonmouth.
What they'll often times do is curl up in a tight ball
and then bend their head back and gape their mouth open.
The inside of the mouth is bright white
just like a cotton ball and as we know
that bright white coloration is aposematic,
warning any predator that this bright color
means that I am potentially toxic.
Now when you're talking copperheads versus water moccasins
versus rattlesnakes I would say that the water moccasin
is pretty much right there in the middle
when it comes to toxicity, armed with the hemotoxic venom
and if you were bitten by this snake
there's no question about it
you are going to find yourself on the way to the hospital.
Alright, Mario go ahead and zoom in on this snake's head.
See how he's got his head positioned up like that?
And has a very triangular shape to it,
almost looks like the spade of a shovel,
the front of a shovel.
That signifies that this is a venomous snake.
I know we've featured this snake species
on the channel before but most of those had been
small to medium size.
So as we were just driving out of the Everglades here
and we saw this snake, we had to stop the vehicle,
get the lights out, get the cameras
and get a couple of really cool shots.
Alright, that's exactly what we want right there
he's curled himself up into a bit a tighter ball.
- [Cameraman] Oh.
- Okay, or he's ready to strike
and he just completely bit down
and wrapped his head around the snake tongs.
Look at all - Joust.
the venom on the tongs?
- [Cameraman] The tongs, let me get a shot
of that real quick.
- [Coyote] That's crazy.
- [Cameraman] Wow that's a lot of venom.
- Yeah.
Alright, you may be asking yourself
what is this snake doing in the center
of the road like this at night?
We actually just finished filming sunset B-roll shots,
we're getting ready to drive ourselves out of the Everglades
and here's this giant right in the middle of the road.
What the snakes will do at night
is come out and lay on the asphalt to warm up.
Now the water moccasin is primarily a nocturnal species.
So what it's getting ready to do now
is after it heats up, it's gonna head off
into this underbrush and it's gonna begin hunting.
Now as a semi-aquatic pit viper,
they have a really incredible opportunity to be
in the water and hunting
for things like fish and amphibians.
Now as compared to the other venomous pit vipers
that we have in the United States,
like rattlesnakes and copperheads,
this is the only one that is actually capable
of spending a significant amount of time in the water.
Well, at this juncture I think it's probably best
that we gently move this snake off the side of the road
so another car doesn't come and accidentally run it over.
This is a pristine specimen when it comes to
the quintessential water moccasin.
How cool is this, stumbling upon
one of the most notorious pit vipers
here in the Everglades?
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright buddy, let's move you off the road here.
- [Cameraman] (laughs) Came right at me.
- Alright there we go, this snake is now safely
on the side of the road.
He's gonna disappear into the underbrush
and continue his night of hunting.
See you later big guy.
Of all the venomous snake species in the United States
it is a valid statement to say that the water moccasin
is one the most dangerous.
They are quick striking
and incredibly defensive if cornered.
Their venom is not the most potent, however,
when they deliver a bite, it usually comes
with a powerful punch and a heavy yield of toxins
that will most certainly send you to the hospital.
It's important that you never try to catch
or harass one of these snakes.
And if you see one in the wild,
remember that like all slithering reptiles,
they simply want to be left alone.
And if you walk in the opposite direction,
your encounter with a notorious cottonmouth
will be a completely safe one.
If you want to learn more about the cottonmouth,
the first place to start is knowing
how to properly identify one.
So make sure to go back and watch the episode
where we show you the difference between a water snake
and a water moccasin.
And don't forget subscribe so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
Ah, my nerves are going.
(eerie music)