I doubt Cottonmouth.

If you enlarge the photo and zoom in you can see the eyes of the snake and the neck is not markedly thinner than the head.

From that viewpoint you would not be able to see the eyes of a Cottonmouth.

Lots of water snakes have thick bodies.

Very odd the dog was not bitten too, unless one hell of a snake killer.

My 'guess' (dissenting I know) would be a water snake of some flavor (possibly a common Southern Watersnake).



Only a better (closer, clearer) picture would tell for sure. But I don't think Cottonmouth.

That is the dog walking away.

My guess is, if the dog killed it and didn't swell up like a balloon, it probably wasn't a cottonmouth.

I kill water snakes too. They eat my fish in my pond.

Without a better look at the head I say Cottonmouth. Ol mister stubby tail.

Kill it and check for fangs. That is how I did it when I was a youngster.

Most aggressive poisonous snake I have been around.

Red on black. Venom lack.

So cottonmouths are mild mannered?

evidently the ones i grew up with on the cibolo and woman hollering creeks on my family farm as a kid didn't know that because those sonsofbitches were meaner than hell and absolutely would not give up ground and in a lot of cases would come at you when they had a way out the opposite direction!

Here’s one I found in the backyard.
The last thing he ever saw was the end of a shotgun….

That is what I call a "good" snake. Dead snakes are the only ones I like.

Easiest way to tell would be seeing the the bars on its jaw like the pic above by flintknapper. If it has them, it’s a water snake. I’m leaning cotton mouth on this one because of the shape of the body and tail. It looks like a center ridgeline going down the body that slopes down on both sides. CM’s also have a dark area or “mask” over their eyes… but we can’t see that either.

Most times you approach a CM they will hold their heads at a 45degree angle. If we could see the head, you could ID it instantly.

I have had water moccasins chase a paddled boat and get really aggressive over a bait bucket full of minnows. The ones I ran across must have not read the part about not being aggressive. ANd any time I have walked up on them on the bank of a river, they have shown me why they are called cottonmouths and hardly ever have they been real quick to slide off the bank into the river. I always thought they were one of the most aggressive snakes around.

Growing up on Mississsippi with a creek through the pasture and owing swamp land with a creek going through it I have seen many copperheads and common water snakes. To me the body on the snake with transition to tail looks copperhead.

I have seen several dogs that were good at killing snakes without getting bit.

My nephew once had one come up the trolling motor shaft and into his boat.

Zack left the boat.

I do not blame him...

It's a cottonmouth or water snake...hard to tell from that picture.

I used to think that the aggressive snakes around and in water were cottonmouths before someone way smarter on the subject educated me...almost all the aggressive ones that look like a cottonmouth are actually water snakes. They are real hard to distinguish between the two without getting closer than I prefer to be

I'm not what I would call scared of them but I don't like them and prefer most snakes dead over alive...to each their own.

Most good snakes have a long tail that narrows for a good length. The poisonous ones...the fat body goes narrow for a short length. Hard to tell but I'd guess cotton mouth based on that tail. But if you told me you live nowhere near a creek/river/swamp then I'd say water snake

Is this one a cottonmouth?

With the tail curled up like that I’m gonna guess hognose. If I saw the head I could tell you on an instant

Diamond Back Water Snake or Banded Water Snake?

No Sir, but not a bad guess.

Not a hognose?

Shhhhh..........trying to see how many would guess other snakes based solely on the thick body. MANY other snakes have body shapes that closely resemble a mature Cottonmouth, so by itself....it is a poor diagnostic tool.

Yes, I didn't think the curled tail would be noticed by most but you spotted it.

Really cool snakes. I like how they play dead and squirm around on their backs. Cool head also when they puff out like that. Technically venomous, but very mild and harmless to humans. I used to think everything was a water moccasin till I joined a snake identification group a few years back. Got a pretty good feel on most anything I could come across now. Thanks for posting Flip and Flint