Any Snake Experts Here? (apartment, houses, dangerous)

[The Frugie]

I saw the first one in the grassy area near my apartment the day after Matthew came through. I showed it to a guy at my job and he thought it was a cottonmouth, which kinda freaked me out, especially since my 2 year old son almost stepped on it. I only pulled him away from it because I thought it was dog poop at first. Since then I've been a lot more careful about looking down when I'm walking my dog through the grass, but I figured the snake was just displaced by the storm and it was an isolated incident...until tonight. I saw the second one on a sidewalk, again while walking the dog, and I'm pretty sure it's a baby version of the first snake I saw. Can anyone say for sure what type of snake these are? And what should be the appropriate level of freakout here?

[Crane's Rooster]

The first does appear to be a water moccasin aka cottonmouth. Very dangerous, take all precautions to stay far away from it, they have been known to be very aggressive. The second appears to be a common water snake. Looks alot like a water moccasin but no deadly. These guys do tend to show up in weird places after large storms but will settle back into their natural habitat after awhile. Until than please be careful.

ps-I am not a snake expert, these are my opinions based on having grown up around the water in Florida for a very long time. Also any in general most snakes with a diamond shaped head and thick muscular body are venomous.

[strickforce]

Not a snake expert, but I know that snakes with triangle shaped heads = poisonous - and that does sorta look like a water moccasin - just google Cottonmouth images -

[shamrockfisher]

Wow. Not a snake expert but definitely a cotton mouth/water moccasin. Definitely dangerous. Definitely deadly. Not good for you or a child. Get someone out there and keep your son close to you.

[The Frugie]

Thanks, guys. The guy I talked to at work said the same thing about the diamond-shaped head; whatever it is, it's poisonous. I wonder if I should tell my apartment management about this. Is there even anything they can do about them?

[ByeByeLW]

To me the first shot looks more like a banded water snake in defensive mode. It flattens and flares its head out to look like a moccasin.

I could be wrong. The body stripes don't match up to a mocassin's to me.

Mocassin's swim on top of the water.

In any case I hope you choose to have it relocated and not killed.

Also, mocassin's eyes are on the sides of the head so you wouldn't really see them from
the top of the head . The angle of the photo is a bit confusing. Also can't see a distinct neck/ head in the photo. A mocker's head is huge.

They also have thick bodies. Baby black racers are often mistaken for baby mocker's.

Google banded water snake. You'll even see photos where it's clearly a water snake but is labeled as a mocassin. That's the problem with googling stuff- I spot misidentified raptors quite frequently,

[ByeByeLW]

Also cotton mouths have elliptical cat-eye pupils. Not round. Hard to tell in this photo.

[AONE]

It looks like a Southern Water Snake, non poisonous. When in doubt - avoid.

My experience with the poisonous water snakes, they are VERY aggressive and will readily come to you for an encounter.

[rainroosty]

^^^ No they are not "VERY aggressive"...other than that they will bite you if you put your hand in front of them.

[Mathguy]

The body thickness of the first snake and the posture I'd lean towards cottonmouth but there are lots of watersnakes that mimic them so I'd go 80% based upon picture quality etc.

The second snake is too long and slender to be one of the venomous species imo.

There is a venomous snake forum at kingsnake.com where they will 100% identify it for you. Several of the regular posters on that forum I've seen on national geographic shows, or run reptile houses, PHD venom researchers etc etc etc.