Friend called me to positively ID a snake that bit a guy picking tomatoes in his field today. He texted me the pic from the ER.



100% positive......Eastern Cottonmouth.

Said guy's hand was swelling bad and he was vomiting. This was a couple hours ago from the ER, so no updates.

I sent him a couple Eastern CM pics for reference...

That's rough. Hope the ol' boy don't lose no fingers or such.

No... I'll take getting buried in snow all winter instead of being anywhere close to those things

Everything and anything wants to kill us!! I hope he is alright and things turn out good.

…. Had a buddy get hit fairly solid by one… couple nights in the hospital and was out …. Took awhile for the swelling to go down…. But every time you saw him after that he had those tie on snake chap deals above his boots

…. Some how that cotton mouth got him above the knee

…. I’ve been hit by them a couple times in the boot .. but they didn’t get threw

… you knew you got hit though from the impact… those dudes can hit with some force lol

You can keep those (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) things....no thanks

Havent seen one this year but they are around. Hope your friend recovers well

Glad I live in the north.....I hope your buddy gets well.

I kill every one I see and copperheads as well

No use for either one of those

I might be wrong, but not too long ago I read the anti-venom for a snake bite is crazy expensive, like $50K.

…. Shoot I need to start milking venom

… knew a girl when I was a kid that got anti venom and it made her heart stop… they shocked her back into shape

… said it was an allergic reaction to the horse plasma they use in the mix or something

… her daddy was a firefighter down in Houston so had good insurance… not sure what the cost was

Yup....when you leave a pop in your truck ovah night...

You don't have snakes.

Rattles I don’t mind

More than 50% of the time They announce themselves

I hope we get a report that your friend is doing good

Hope he’s ok

For the dude said no use for any of them or any one else, copperheads make a right fine belt or wallet, I can never get enough of them !

Same as the other venomous ones, your missing out on some dollars and it's very easy to break them down and salt!

I hope he recovers quickly with no long term effects. Keep us updated.

Closest call we have ever had was when my younges was about 6 or 7. He would grab about every snake he saw even after having a garden snake bight the web of his hand. The boys were in the back yard and moved a corn hole board and there was a copper head under it. My lodest boy 2 years older stoped the young one from grading it saying " I think thats a bad one we better ask mom" she confirmed her and my daughter killed it then sent me some pictures of the things head still trying to bite after its removal. Had nice fangs. She picked it up with a shovel and put it in the outdoor wood burner to be sure the kids wouldn't end up geting bit by a dead snake if they decided to mess with it.

Current antivenin is made using sheep due to the high incidence of anaphylaxis reactions to the older horse serum based.

Between those and copperheads and black widows and easterns and mosquitos big as bats, it's many of the joys we have living in NC. And fire ants are taking over too. The bites stings from those dudes SUCKS!!

Hope dude does ok. CM bites are rough from what I hear.

Is that thing still alive in the back of that truck?hope the guys ok

…. They got a more squared off nose around here Swamp

… sure you didn’t misidentify?

More I look … I’d say banded water snake

… but the best way to know is if he had two puncture wounds about 3/4 inch apart

That's a moccasin, no doubt about it.

They are all over kansas if you ask every larry, moe, and curly....not really. Everyone here thinks a watersnake is a killer snake.

A new problem they are having is this Alpha gal syndrome, They
Had a lady with it have a reaction to crofab because of the animal
Proteins in it

Do non-venomous watersnake bites make you swell bad and vomit?

Lol

….. you didn’t include that info in your post there Swamp … also ours have a more blunt tail

…. Anyway… here’s what they look like around here

… usually darker… have seen some colorful juveniles though

… anyway… hope that hand gets through it alright

Swamp Got it Right

….. I don’t know… I think he’s making the whole story up

…the part where he claims he has a friend is when I started getting suspicious

ColdspringKidd,
I thought your reading skills were better.....they historically have been. In the past you've even corrected me for failing to use apostrophes....lol

Go back and read the original post.

… ok you got me there …

…. But how do you prove this claim that you have a friend!

…. Nobody’s buying that

Em R snakes.
Dang tomatoes.

yeah they say copper heads are the worst b/c they let you trip over them to announce that they are there. guess you said cottonmouth. nevermind.

As many CMs as I've stepped over and near in my days there is no error.

There are color variations from more reddish to olive drab, with some almost black, but the marking pattern is the same, just harder to see. Even though not visible in the tailgate pic, CMs always have that dark brown stripe thru their eyes. Never saw one that didn't have that.

There are US regional variations in color and markings in CMs, but the descriptions above include them all here in deep South Ga and north Florida.

Also, we supposedly have two subs here: the Eastern CM and the Florida CM. The Eastern is usually like the ones pictured. The Florida is usually the more olive drab to black version.

You're not my friend? I thought I had at least 2.

Maybe a "JP " selfie of Uncle Swamp and his friend in the hospital...

Would debunk that claim.

Always heard you most likely won't die from a cottonmouth bite, youll just want to.

Another ^^^ that struggles with his reading skills....lol

My "friend" didn't get snake bit. A guy picking tomatoes in my friend's field got bit.....it's all there in the original post.

Ya'll are making me second guess what happened......dang!

… maybe Nessy was saying your imaginary friend would be in the hospital with his snakebit friend

… you see ?

I think he carried the guy to the ER. Not sure if victim is a Hispanic worker or just a guy he was selling "you pick" tomatoes to.

I recalculated........2 friends might be an over-estimate.

Swamp's version is the Florida Cottonmouth, Agkistrodon conati. Matter of fact all Georgia and southeast Alabama moccasins are either Florida or intergrades with Florida. A.conati is known for it's brighter colors well into adulthood vs the Northern A.piscivorous.

If that was a u pick customer does your friend have a " can't sue if bitten by a snake clause?"

Not sure

They're all The Devil

The same goes in Eastern North Carolina. I'd like to have a dollar for every one I killed in the 30 years I worked the beaver swamps.

Just found out the victim is in ICU, but is expected to come thru this. Hand still swollen very badly.

My cousin, Shelby Stanga (Ax Men) used to let them bite him on the arm. I watched him bite the head off a water moccasin one time.

Speaking more about snakes......this was in the yard of my hunt lease equipment area today.

Over 7 feet long.

It was left by a large coach-whip, a decent indigo, or a world record rat snake.

Good news

How common are indigos in that area?

Many years ago while newly stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC, I went out to a quiet lake deep in the woods for lunch break.

The weather was still kind of cold. I found two snakes curled up in a hollow tree stump sunning on some dried leaves.

Being a newlywed, I thought I would catch the snakes, bring them both home, and scare the wife when I got back to my residence.

I gently stepped on them to hold them down, picked them both up, and placed both into a thin paper lunch bag.

Put the bag in the front seat of my pick up, turned on the trucks heater, and drove to my scheduled class.

Being a smart (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), I brought the paper bag into the class room and dumped them both on the class room floor.

The southern boys immediately jumped up or moved away quickly.

Being a stupid kid from New Jersey, I didn't think nothing of it, I only laughed at them.

At that moment a grumpy old southern Gunnery Sergeant from the deep south, seen them on the floor moving around and began yelling and screaming.

Told me to get them out of the room ASAP.

All of the southern boys were saying that the snakes were both a cotton mouth and a copper head.

I didn't believe them, I caught one, I stepped on the head gently and picked one up. While holding the head which was flattening out and shaped like a heart. It wrapped itself tightly around my arm.

One southern boy told me to hold onto it securely. He got a small stick and with the snakes mouth fully open, unfolded the snakes fangs.

I never seen snake fangs up close and personal. They looked like fish bones, clear and sharp.

Needless to say I quickly walked that snake out of the classroom, unwrapped it off my arm, and threw it into the adjacent woods.

The copper head was picked up with a stick and deposited with the other one.

This naive boy from New Jersey got his first lesson on Cotton mouths and copper heads.

Good thing I never brought the snaked home for the wife to open the little paper lunch bag. I'd be in the brig.

This is about as good indigo country as it gets in the deep South. Sand ridges, gopher tortoise burrows everywhere. But, they are considered threatened and are protected here in Georgia. I'm 61 years old and have seen about 10 in my entire lifetime. The ones I've seen were huge.....9ft -10ft plus.

All i got out of this post is people in Texas can't read and some nut job has put too many fancy words out there to explain a cottonmouth, this version or that version i never met one in a good mood and noticed on my FB memories I blasted one 12 years ago today, lol. And probably had several liberal's complaining about it cause they don't hurt anyone and you shouldn't kill them. My motto is kill them all and let God sort it out!

Luckily i just play in the hills with timber rattlers during the summer now, lol. Copperheads don't count cause im too blind to see them anymore.

…. Yeah ..Yeah

…. If you ever got bit … the snake would die from HIV

…. Where’d you run off to ?

…. I’m trying to start a polite conversation here

Im just a lurker, you seem to be the ghost of Savell.

Lol, I'm not sure exactly who he is as there is no mention of a favorite beverage any where.

You ain't just whistling Dixie. I had one to just about knock my leg out from under me when he struck me on the calf area of the hip boots. It didn't penetrate though.

Rickey

If you discover that you are standing on a cottonmouth, you may see a sight that looks somewhat similar to that picture.
Rickey

What the s**t

Praying

Was the bite victim picking Billy Boys maters?

No....a preacher/garden produce grower.
Learned a few days ago that the victim is a Hispanic male that was employed by him.