One end of the barn here at the Boggy Thicket is a greenhouse. Back when we lined the pool deck with hibiscus plants, that’s where they spent the winter. For the last few years I have used it to store all of the lighted wire Christmas sculptures; the Snowman, Santa, a huge sled, a Christmas Tree and about a dozen deer of various sizes.
There is also a faucet in there, installed when we were actually using the area for plants. I had turned the water to the barn off back before the first hard freeze of the winter, and turned it back on this weekend.
I went out to check the faucet, and this is what I saw:
That is one of the largest deer – over 6 ft. tall at the antlers, and almost 6 ft. long nose to tail. Apparently, it makes an ideal spot for a moccasin to stretch out. He was so comfortable there that I was able to go back in the house, get my camera, run back out and shoot the picture – he hadn’t moved at all.
Because of the size and coloration, I first thought it was just a chicken snake. With the tail up by the reindeer’s ear and the head stretching almost to its rump, it seemed to be much too long to be any of the poisonous snakes we normally see here. After I sent him on to snake heaven, though, I decided it was actually a viper. He had the typical diamond-shaped head and a fine set of fangs.
A check of the “experts” at Cottonmouth Snake.org found several photos of snakes with similar markings, and this quote:
I’ve read several articles about the species where authors report that water moccasins don’t regularly climb low lying branches on the water’s edge and bask like other non-venomous waters snakes do, but that is entirely false.
I’ve personally seen several animals more than a couple feet off the ground basking in the sun in the same manner that common water snakes tend to do.
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