Dunno, Susan. These were two 30", fat, snakes with black skin hanging
around in a downed tree over the water. One fell out of the tree and began
swimming toward me, prompting the Jesus interpretation of walking on water.
When I finished with them, it'd take DNA analysis to even determine the
species, but I always considered them to be cotton mouths.

--

Tom Gauldin, Las Vegas NV
NEW EMAIL
NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax

"Susan Hogarth" wrote in message
.. .
Tom Gauldin wrote:

...
FWIW, we lived near Falls Lake and I once was wading down a creek toward
the lake when I spotted two cotton mouths on a dead tree overhanging the
creek.
One "dropped" off a limb and began to swim toward me. Trust me, Jesus
wasn't the only one who walked on water. grin Those two became jelly
when
I returned with the 12 ga. and made them into "good" snakes. I should
have taken a photo, because I've been told again and again that they
couldn't be
cotton mouths, since Falls Lake is too far north. However, having spent
a
summer living in a tent on an island in a Mississippi bayou, I KNOW
cotton
mouths and can identify them easily.

According to _Reptiles of North Carolina_, it isn't so much too far north
(they are found in VA), but may be too far west. Wake is apparently the
westernmost edge of where they may be found, and that only rarely.

The same source also says:

"Reports of cottonmouths in western and central NC ... almost always are
based on nonvenomous water snakes of the genus _Nerodia_, usually
_N.sipedon_."

Also, and this is particularly interesting in light of your description:

"Unlike several species of large water snakes that share their habitat
(most
notably _Nerodia taxispilota_), cottonmouths seldom climb to appreciable
heights in branches above the water. Most are seen on the bank or on
stumps, log jams, low brush piles, and similar places near water level."

We used to see these basking water snakes a lot at Schenck Forest in
Raleigh. Used to drive Bill crazy when someone would tell us to "watch out
for the cottonmouths down by the creek in the trees."

--
Susan Hogarth