Tom Gauldin wrote:

Dunno, Susan.

As I suspected ;-)

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.

Yes, it certainly makes for a more interesting story.

Cottonmouths are generally wary around humans (according to the source I
mentioned earlier - I don't have any direct experience of them), but the
water snakes can be quite agressive and crotchety (according to my husband
who *is* a smake fan, and to our personal experience).

There's no point in arguing over something that can't be decided one way or
another, but I just wanted to point out that it's very unlikely one would
see a cottonmouth in Wake County, and that water snakes look very much like
them and trick many people into believing cottonmouths are common in this
area.

--
Susan Hogarth