Florida Green Watersnake vs. Florida Cottonmouth

Florida Cottonmouths share the same weedy swamps; both are big, dark and heavy. A: A long head, round pupil, no pit; a row of small scales between the eye and the lip in the Florida Green Watersnake; a broad, flat head with a heat pit, a dark stripe hiding the eye and a cat-like pupil in the Florida Cottonmouth. B: Plain greenish-brown, no bands in the Florida Green Watersnake; speckled crossbands that darken with age in the Florida Cottonmouth. C: About 50 narrow dark bars in the Florida Green Watersnake; bold reddish crossbands and a yellow tail tip in the Florida Cottonmouth. The cottonmouth is venomous: never handle a big, dark water snake you cannot name.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Banded Watersnake
• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Brown Watersnake
• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Florida Green Watersnake vs. Saltmarsh Snake
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Banded Watersnake
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Brown Watersnake
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Florida Cottonmouth vs. Eastern Copperhead

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