What kind of snake is this?

Humblegunner's yard | 5/09/09 | humblegunner

[humblegunner]

This afternoon I happened to look out the back and saw something
black and long in the middle of the yard. I just mowed yesterday
so I knew the yard was free of sticks and such.

Turns out it was a big black snake!

He isn't a rattler, does not look loke a water moccasin or a black snake.

What the heck kind of snake is he? He has the triangular head which
means he is a bad one, but I can't place his breed.

Anyway, photography being as dangerous as it is, he got wrecked up some
which is just as well. He might have bitten one of the animals.

So who knows any herpetology?

[txhurl]

And pass the shovel.

I still don’t feel it was a moccasin, but now my eyes are peeled for something that may not be what it seems.

Reasons why not:

It was crawling with flies but no reported smell, which is the first giveaway when you’re trying to ID a moc, DOA or alive. You’d have dogs from all over trying to roll in this snake.

Wrong color. Missing markings/stripings.

Didn’t hiss and coil up, in fact, laid its tail over body in a position which would inhibit coiling and striking.

Skinny portion of post-cloaca/*enis tail too long by about three inches for a moc.

If it’s not a moc, it may be mimicing moc appearance (but not behavior or biology) in order to be avoided.

[gargoyle]

...Murderer!!!

[Arrowhead1952]

Somebody is talking about you.....

[Arrowhead1952]

Some of the replies on this thread are so funny.

[ConservativeMan55]

Uh lol

[txhurl]

I come home from work hoping to find a verdict, to no avail!

Eaker says he and HG have conferred privately and it IS a moc.

Something else to watch out for, if so.

[Allegra]

Somebody is talking about you.....

Who?

Or am I the snake?

[Arrowhead1952]

At reply #208.

---

“Even Achmed the Terrorist was shot out there, a couple of times it seems. Once by a “contractor”, who usually works in Iraq. He got himself run over once too.”

---

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2247796/posts?page=208#208

[Arrowhead1952]

I am sure that was a cottonmouth moccasin. I saw plenty of those in the farm stock tanks.

[Allegra]

Even Achmed the Terrorist was shot out there, a couple of times it seems. Once by a "contractor", who usually works in Iraq. He got himself run over once too.

This "contractor" is back in Iraq. Where there are 66 species of snakes...all of them poisonous.

Why is "contractor" in quotes?

[Non-Sequitur]

I think you showed remarkable self-control but waiting long enough to take the pictures first. If my wife ever spotted something like that in my yard the result would be a huge smoking crater where the back yard used to be. Fortunately other than a garter snake or two - which she still doesn’t know about - I haven’t seen anything nasty in the yard. Some neighboring suburbs will get rattlers but that’s about it.

[Ditter]

I agree it's cotton mouth moccasin. Kill ‘em all and let Mother Nature sort ‘em out.

[postoak]

I don't think it is a cottonmouth. Here's a cottonmouth I encountered about 15 miles from where you are:

[txhurl]

If AH says it’s a moc, then it’s a moc. Was a moc.

Good kill and I needed the update on what to watch for.

[postoak]

Look at the tail on a cottonmouth:

[Ditter]

Look at the 2nd picture. The broad head and narrow neck is the test. I have seen cotton mouth mocs that were black and others that were very dark had a bit of a pattern. HG is lucky he didn't find this one in a corner. I heard my husband yelling from the garage and he had accidentally cornered a moc and the snake was charging at him and striking.

Yeah, we got him.

[Arrowhead1952]

This "contractor" is back in Iraq. Where there are 66 species of snakes...all of them poisonous.

Stay safe, and especially stay away from the snakes.

[trillabodilla]

Thank you very much for killing it! From, a non-snake lover.

[Arrowhead1952]

I’ve seen them on our friends dock down at Arrowhead park. One actually chased the owner off the walkway a few years ago. He went back later with his .22 pellet gun and killed it.

[txhurl]

Did it stink to high hell?