One of the venomous snakes of Florida is the Cottonmouth, a close relative of the copperhead, also known as the water moccasin.
Cottonmouth Snake Florida
Cottonmouth Snake Florida
Photos by Ravi
Sharing unique images that I have captured from around the world. All images are copyrighted by Ravi Patel.
Yikes! Hope you were using your long range camera! 🙂 He is pretty tho!
Safety first Ellen. Used a zoom lens.
Good! 😀
We have those here in Georgia, too. I do not like snakes!
Don’t blame you. Snakes can be harmful.
That is actually a banded water snake, not a cottonmouth. You can clearly see the rounded pupil, the shape of the head and the big fat neck. Banded water snakes live in the same environments as cottonmouths and can mimic their behavior, even going as far as flattening their head into a triangular shape in order to fool potential predators into believing they are the venomous cottonmouth when in reality they are completely harmless. They also seem to be better climbers than cottonmouths, which is probably why you spotted it in those branches rather than on the ground.
Here’s a great resource for further reading on comparisons between the two species: http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml
Thanks for the correct identification and info