Tom Gauldin wrote:

FWIW, I've spent many time in a canoe, floating down a bayou, looking at
Cotton mouths.

Are you sure? Perhaps they, too, were water snakes. How do you know they
were cottonmouths? Did you see someone bit by one? Did locals identify them
for you? Many people around here call water snakes 'cottonmouths', so I
think local identification has to be taken with a grain of salt.

snip

Well, Susan, it's best to trust your books of what somebody says.

I'm not sure what you're saying. It's certainly possible you saw two
cottonmouths, but it's also an uncommon sight in Wake County, and
mis-identification is common. That's all I wanted to point out.

I can
never prove my tale, so let's just leave it with your refutation.

Neither is susceptible to proof at this point. I just like to point out how
similar the two are and how unlikely one is to find cottonmouths here. You
needn't be so defensive about it.

Here is some interesting info about the common confusion:

http://www.parcplace.org/publication...es/cmflier.pdf

http://www.parcplace.org/education/sparc/trip5.htm

northern water snake:
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/nortwtr.htm

brown water snake:
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/brwnwtr.htm

and cottonmouth:
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/snakes/cotton.htm


.... and some five-lined skinks hatching (just 'cause they're so cute):
http://www.snakesandfrogs.com/scra/l.../newskinks.jpg

--
Susan Hogarth