Someone told me that water moccasins can't bite in the water (underwater) is this true?
2007-05-21 10:56:14 · 7 answers · asked by pebbles_hlm 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
It's their -job- to bite underwater, people who say that snakes and alligators and turtles can't bite underwater are just trying to make themselves feel safer.
Another cause of percieved "attacks" by water moccasins is fishing... you've got either live bait or a nice lure, moccasins are always looking for injured fish, and the same things that attract whatever you're fishing for (topwater action, jerky indeterminate movements, etc.) are also what a snake (or turtle or little alligator) is looking for in a meal. A moccasin coming across a pond to check out your lure is NOT the same as a moccasin coming across a pond to attack you.
2007-05-21 15:25:18 · answer #1 · answered by gimmenamenow 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
Water moccasins bite in the water?
Someone told me that water moccasins can't bite in the water (underwater) is this true?
2015-08-18 22:23:44 · answer #2 · answered by Yard 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think about it...Water moccasins, or Cottonmouths, eat mostly FISH(as well as frogs, another largely-aquatic animal)...now, where do FISH live, hmmm? Have YOU ever seen a snake sitting on a riverbank with a cane pole and a can of worms, or seen one in the checkout lane at the local seafood market? Now, how do you suppose that the snake CATCHES those fish it eats...talks 'em into giving up? Suicidal fish flinging themselves out of the water onto the riverbank? I hate to sound like such a smart-a**, but this shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.
Funny thing about perception, though, with regards to "very aggressive" Cottonmouths; I've studies and captured snakes nearly all my life, including Cottonmouths. I personally know some of the world's top herpetologists, including Dr. Whit Gibbons of UGA, and not ONE of us has EVER, and I mean EV-VAH, been "chased" or "attacked" by ANY snake, Cottonmouths included. I've seen Dr. Gibbons DELIBERATELY provoke one, time and time again, to see if it would go after him, and other than defensive strikes when all else failed, nothing. I've gotten within a couple of feet of these lazy snakes, just barely out of strike range, and the snake just sat there like a log, no sign of aggressive behavior whatsoever. Yet, someone who is terrified of snakes, and knows little about them, will interpret every move on a snake's part as "an attack" or the snake "chasing" them. I think that Will Shakespeare summed it up really, really well when he wrote, "A coward dies a thousand deaths, while the valiant taste of death but once".
2007-05-21 15:19:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
water moccasins CAN bite underwater.
2007-05-21 11:25:47 · answer #4 · answered by jaysive 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Snapping turtles dont bite under water either, if you run across one in the water you will see what I mean.
2007-05-23 12:11:10 · answer #5 · answered by Golden Gecko 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They can bite IN or OUT of the water and are VERY AGGRESSIVE.
2007-05-21 11:45:10 · answer #6 · answered by llfitzpatrick 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no they lied to you my brother got bit by 1 when he put his hand under the watter in a creek
2007-05-25 07:16:27 · answer #7 · answered by BIG-B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that is a tricky question...
2016-09-19 21:38:37 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it depends...
2016-08-24 03:09:46 · answer #9 · answered by mariana 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋