How to Identify a Water Snake: Water Moccasin or Just a Pest?

When taking care of the lake, it’s impossible not to run into different kinds of wildlife. Most will be harmless animals looking for water, but you will almost certainly run into one or two snakes. Snakes have a bad reputation, but they can be helpful to have around. They keep rats and other pests that might get into your home under control.

But it’s important to know the difference between a harmless water snake and a moccasin of toxic water. Mistaking one for the other could lead to something bad happening. If you are not sure how to tell a harmless snake from a poisonous one, it is best to treat all snakes as if they were poisonous.

There are several important differences between these snakes that can help you figure out which one you might be. The head shape is the most obvious difference. The head of the water snake will be thin and fit well around the neck.

The head of the water moccasin, on the other hand, is very blocky, and the neck is very small where it meets the head. Also, people often call water moccasins “cotton mouths” because the inside of their mouths is white. This is often used as a  protective mark.

The second difference is the way they stand or sit. The bodies of most aquatic snakes are long and thin, while the bodies of water moccasins are short and strong. But this alone shouldn’t be used as a key way to tell because snakes’ bodies are made up of different parts. And a water moccasin can sometimes be a light colour. But both snakes can be brown or black, so again, colour alone shouldn’t be used to tell which snake it is.

The status of the student comes next. If you get close enough to see a snake reader (which we don’t recommend), water snakes have a round reader, and water moccasins have a vertical reader.

In terms of how both snakes act, the water moccasin seems to be the more aggressive of the two. It has a big head, a body that slopes down, and a dry tongue. Itching Moccasin Water is known to cause severe symptoms like bleeding, numbness, skin rashes, and even death. So, as was already said, if you can’t be sure, easily, and correctly identify the snake, it’s best to treat it as a poisonous snake to keep yourself safe.