Home >> Science & Nature >> Nature

The Habitat of the Cottonmouth Moccasin

The cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus, is a semi-aquatic species of venomous snake, found only in North America. Its habitats relate to their diets, with this snake using its powerful venom to disable and kill its victim, before consumption. The three distinct subspecies of the cottonmouth all have different ranges. Other water snakes, often mistaken for the cottonmouth, occur throughout its range and well north of where the cottonmouth exists; no cottonmouths live north of Virginia, although convincing old timers of this, is a difficult task.

Geography
- The total range of the cottonmouth, also called a water moccasin, includes southeastern Virginia, western sections of the Carolinas and all of Georgia -- with the exception of the extreme northern counties. All of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas are within the cottonmouth's range. This includes southern Illinois, western Tennessee, western Kentucky, southern Missouri, eastern Oklahoma and much of eastern Texas.
Subspecies Distribution
- The eastern cottonmouth lives along the coastal plains of the Atlantic, from southeast Virginia through the Carolinas and into Georgia and Alabama. Southeastern Alabama, southern Georgia and all of Florida is the home turf of the Florida cottonmouth. The western cottonmouth lives from southwestern Kentucky, western Tennessee and western Alabama westward into Oklahoma and Texas.
Preferred Habitat
- Cottonmouths occur at elevations from sea level to approximately 1,500 feet, according to the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians." They live in any habitat that involves freshwater; including rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, rice fields, swamps, bayous, marshes, bogs and vegetated wetlands. Cypress swamps and coastal floodplains are among their favorite haunts. They will also inhabit man-made ditches and canals.
More Habitat Information
- Since throughout most of their habitat, winters do not become cold enough to warrant hibernation, the cottonmouth remains active, states the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Hot weather forces them to become nocturnal. Cottonmouths often bask in the warm sunshine on rocks, ledges, logs and branches of trees, although they typically refrain from climbing very high. As wetlands dry up in the deep south summer, cottonmouths will gather around them for the aquatic creatures trapped in the shrinking pools. Their diets of fish, turtles, frogs, snakes, lizards and salamanders keep them in close proximity to a source of water, but these snakes will venture overland between watery areas to find new territory.

Nature