Florida cottonmouth

Com reconèixer-lo

• Adults are usually 76 to 122 cm long, with a thick body and a broad head.1
• The head has bold black stripes on each side of the cheeks, edged above and below with light cream or white lines.1
• The body is olive brown, dark brown or black, with 10 to 17 dark bands. Adults often grow darker and their bands can be faint or absent.1
• Newborns and young snakes are clay-red or 'red dirt' in colour, with the same pattern as adults.1
• A pair of dark vertical lines runs down the tip of the snout.1

Sovint es confon amb: It is often confused with harmless watersnakes (Nerodia) and other semi-aquatic snakes that share its habitat. The Florida cottonmouth has a longer tail, with a relative tail length of about 17.4% in adult and subadult males. Its head markings are lighter, cleaner and more sharply defined, even in older snakes.1