I got a phone call this morning from one of my clients because their dog had been apparently bitten by a snake. I had them come in to the clinic and I examined the dog and found it to be in good condition. I asked the owners what kind of snake it was and they said it was a cotton mouth. I gave the dog some medication and in casual conversation the owner told me -- "we have the dead snake in a bucket if you want to see it". I always like to see the snakes to verify for myself its species. Sure enough it was a cotton mouth, and a very large one. The owner held it up by its tail and I noticed a large "bulge" in its lower abdomen. I asked if they minded if I cut the snake open to see what it had been eating. I suspected to find a squirrel or rat, but to my surprise, I removed no less than 30 (thats right I said 30) baby snakes from her uterus. I could not believe it. This happened this morning around 10:00 am and since then I have researched snake reproduction and learned lots of things I never even considered. Anyway, heres some eye candy. Enjoy!!!

interesting! and cool, i thought they layed egg..??

Apparently some do, and some dont. The ones that dont are said to be viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young. According to some things I read, Cottonmouths give birth in September.

Man, that's crazy.

I hate anything that has no legs and that i hate X31

From the pic, not to argue with you doc, that looks like a diamond backed watersnake to me. Judging from what I can see fd its markings and body structure. Did it have fangs?

i might have to possibly aggree with u maybe.....hard to tell

yuck, gotta hate them snakes, i dont let them age and mature i just blow their heads off!!!!

Looks like a diamond back water snake to me. The hubby and I killed one last year, and it looked like that. When we killed ours, her babies were alive and wiggling everywhere. We killed 28 of them. Here's a pic of the one we killed.

Easy way to determine. If the eyes are (|), then it was a cottonmouth. Eyes are (o), then it was a watersnake.

Looking at the triangular head, it looks to be a cottonmouth.

That's pretty cool...I shot an opossum one time in the chicken pen, walked up and it's belly was wigglin. Had 4 babies in her pouch. We kept one and named him Ollie. He was cool til he got mean then he went to live with Jesus...

diampnd abcked watersnakes are able to flatten out their head somewhat when mad and look like a pitviper, Ive seen it first hand.

After doing a bit of research, I have decided this was probably a water snake rather than a cotton mouth.

So she ate her snakes?

I think it's a dead snake, which I find awesome!

or you could just cut its head off befor you look into its eyes

cool pic, glad none of them made it.

Not a cotton mouth.

Why would you give medication to a dog that has been bitten by a nonvenomous snake?

Ha was wondering the same thing. Hopefully the pup has no affect to the medicine but what do I know about medicine. Thats alot of dead snakes. Cool pics

Brandon

By medication Im not referring to "Antivenin", but rather a steroidal anti-inflammatory and antibiotic injection. The dogs lips were mildly swollen. Even a non-venomous snake can introduce bacteria via a bite.

x2 I ain't no expert but i thought a cottonmouth was black...no?

Now that right there is funny....I dont care who you are...

I remember as a kid we were on our way to school when we saw a snack in the yard. My mom ran it over with the car and it was full of babies too. Nasty!

If I found a snack in my yard I would have eaten it as long as it wasn't covered in ants.