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Agkistrodon piscivorus
I ran into this Cotton Mouth today at the Cumberland Trail in Ashland City Tn. A guy was about to kill it before I yelled at him to stop. It's upsetting that ignorance often prevails from careless people who choose to not understand nature and it's animals. I captured the snake and took it off of the trail into the woods near a swamp to get the snake out of harms way. The snake was about 2.5 to 3 feet long. I took around 20 images of it while shooting from a few inches away checking it's temperment. This snake never once struck at my lens or me. People often claim that the Cotton Mouth is aggressive. I've yet to come across one that is aggressive.
Spotted on Sep 1, 2012
Submitted on Sep 2, 2012
44 Comments (1–25)
Breathtaking!
Glad you were able to save it and get it to safety! Wish all snakes were so lucky. Recently overheard a woman bragging about killing a bunch of ring neck snakes. So sad!
Thanks Phil!
Wow! Fantastic series!
@ Karen and Lisa, It was wonderful getting to meet you 2 at the Cumberland Trail. You 2 ladies are wonderful and I seen the love that you 2 have for wildlife. I wish everyone felt the same way about wildlife that we do. I hope you 2 captured some wonderful images of the Cottonmouth that I caught:) Again, Another Cottonmouth that shown NO aggression. I will get some of those images up as soon as I go through them all.
Thank you all for the comments.
Impressive shot! Glad you were able to save it! :) Congrats on SOTD.
Great shot and narrative!
I stopped going to one of my favorite fishing spots because of these. I seen at least one every time I went out there. If ever I got bit by one, I'd be in rough shape after hiking a half mile+ through the woods back to my car then driving to a hospital.
Wow good job for stopping him and nice pic!
I'm glad the snake lived and that you got such great shots of it.
Excellent job! You risked your own safety to prevent the killing of a snake that was just minding his own business. Good to know there are still people out there that would do that. Such ignorant behavior, as demonstrated by the "other" guy, is something I truly can not wrap my brain around. It's driven by fear, I know. I suggest, the next time you have an opportunity to something similar, take a moment and educate the person. "Enlightenment drives out fear", my own mentor taught me. Find something amazingly incredible about the creature, and sell that to the "ignorant one". Hopefully the light will come on, and we'll have a new convert!
Cheers, and "Atta BOY!" Proud of ya.
Congratulations on a very worthy SOTD!
lol @ Roland! Awesome tale!
Congrats on your Spotting of the Day honor, and a sincere thank you for saving this snake!
Congratulations! <3
Congratulations !!!
Congratulations nspired.creation. Awesome spotting.
I remember i went on a wading hike in Louisiana swamp lands, and a few guys were hunting crocs, and they yelled at me to not move at all, i feared a croc was near, i was sweating the oldies....The next thing i noticed there were about 7 cottonmouth snakes gliding pass me, the man said dont move, if i do i will be attacked by the snakes, i never heard of them before and i love snakes, but the man said you move and you wont love any more, if startled they go into a attack mode and i will die because they were very poison...i was very scared and my leg started to cramp, it seemed the snakes took their time passing me... i think i pissed myself, I never seen or heard of them before, this was back in 1994... How stupid i was than not asking about what dangers i face in the swamps, it was my first time in swamp areas....I learned my lesson and was very lucky man was there, i may been stupid enough to try pick one up...lol
Congratulations on SOTD! And I have to second everything that Yasser said! I have a special spot in my heart for that particular population and appreciate all efforts to protect, conserve and educate folks about them.
Hey Jeff,
We are planning on going up there on this Sunday, September 23 at 10:30 a.m. Come join us, I expect we will be there most of the day.
wow ! awesome spot ! congratulations!
You are awesome! Thank you for looking out for these important creatures.
Thanks for stepping up to save this gorgeous Cottonmouth. One of our goals with Snake Week is to help spread the message that snakes are important predators worthy of our respect and appreciation. Your story and photo embodied everything we are trying to convey and so we have selected this beauty as Spotting of the Day. Congratulations on the recognition and thanks again for your effort.
"The cottonmouth is North America’s only venomous aquatic snake. It gets its common name from the inner white lining of the mouth, which is displayed during this species’ characteristic defensive gaping behaviour."
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Thank you so much for protecting this beautiful snake. I think it is very sad that so many people feel the need to kill things they are afraid of. We all need to do our best to try to educate people to at least leave the creatures alone if they don't like them or are afraid.
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