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Project Noah Nature School
Nerodia sipedon
Individual snakes with dark coloration and marked bands are sometimes mistakenly identified as cottonmouth or copperhead snakes, even though that species does not live in the Triangle area of North Carolina. The fisherman who first spotted this juvenile snake was convinced it was a cottonmouth; a woman fishing nearby also thought this, although I insisted it was a watersnake. I’m pretty sure this was a juvenile.
Cane Creek Reservoir
Spotted on Sep 19, 2014
Submitted on Sep 20, 2014
3 Comments
Thanks, Lisa and Gilma. It is not dangerous, aroa1. The cottonmouth snake, which the people fishing thought it was, does have venom but the watersnake does not. They can be grumpy and you don't want to get bitten so it's best to leave them be - which is pretty much my philosophy with wildlife in general. :)
Beautiful spotting, Maria dB, it looks so nice in the water.
Very nice spotting!