# Mutant water moccasin?



## rip18 (May 15, 2010)

An image from today. 

Sure resembles a water moccasin & has several water moccasin characteristics...

Aquatic habitat - check
Short, STOCKY body - check
Blotchy color pattern - check
Strongly triangular head - check
Keeled scales - check
Lack of a round pupil - check

Nikon D3, Lester A. Dine 105 mm, f/16, 1/1250, ISO 1250, handheld, full frame.

I'll throw an ID on this one tomorrow evening...


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## flatwoods (May 15, 2010)

I'm certainly no snake expert but it looks sort of like a brown water snake.
Where was the pic taken?


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## rip18 (May 15, 2010)

The pic was taken in central North Carolina - but I'm not sure that matters so much.


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## LOVEMYLABXS (May 15, 2010)

Nice picture but to darn close  at least he don't look to upset with you takin his picture


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## dawg2 (May 15, 2010)

rip18 said:


> The pic was taken in central North Carolina - but I'm not sure that matters so much.



No it doesn't, it's not native to here


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## Lee Woodie (May 15, 2010)

my guess is a rough scale boa ?


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## Redbow (May 16, 2010)

The head does look like its some kind of Boa, not a Cottonmouth ! Kinda hard to tell, it does have a rather blunt tail !


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## Hoss (May 16, 2010)

Well, since I'm so good with these ID's, I'm going with my standard answer, I have no idea.  Interesting looking snake.

Hoss


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## Swamprat (May 16, 2010)

I was thinking some type of boa just by the way the head looks.


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## noggin nocker (May 16, 2010)

I dare guess it is not native to NC.  My guess is St. Lucia Boa.


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## quinn (May 16, 2010)

I would have to go with Hoss on this one.Awesome shot though!


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## GAranger1403 (May 16, 2010)

I'm guessing Candola aspera aspera, the viper boa?


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## rip18 (May 16, 2010)

You nailed it, GAranger1403.  It is a viper boa (Candoia aspera aspera), & it is a boa that is native to New Zealand.  It is completely non-venomous, though it does mimic a venomous viper from the same area, hence the name viper boa.

We shot him for a bit yesterday.  I didn't have much of a chance to shoot - just a grab shot as I was wrangling the snake & holding a diffuser or reflector.  I wish I could have gotten a good shot of him.  From straight above, he REALLY resembled a cottonmouth.

I ain't a stranger to snakes, and they don't give me the willies at all, but I hesitated every now & then reaching down barehanded to wrangle this one.  Sometimes when I'm wrangling a boa or python with heat-sensing pits, my subconcious warns me not to mess with it barehanded.  But my subconcious & concious were telling me to yank my hand back from this guy it so strongly gave the general impression, shape, size, & coloration of a cottonmouth.  If it had had visible heat sensing pits, I don't know that I could make my hand pick it up without being VERY careful.  Some of the other viewing angles REALLY make it look like a cottonmouth.

Thanks for being good-natured guessers, and there wasn't a bad guess amongst 'em.


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## GAranger1403 (May 16, 2010)

Great shot rip, glad I got it right, wasn't 100 % sure. There are several viper imitators from the info-china-australia region. Some of them even have fake fangs!


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## Slim Chance (May 18, 2010)

How did you run across this critter. Is it an invasive species there?


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## rip18 (May 18, 2010)

Slim Chance said:


> How did you run across this critter. Is it an invasive species there?



I rented him for the day.  Nope, I don't think it'd survive the winters up here.


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## Slim Chance (May 18, 2010)

Dang! Was gonna ask you to flat rate me one.


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## GAranger1403 (May 18, 2010)

You can find them on kingsnake.com from time to time. $100.00 bucks give or take last I checked.


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