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snake identification?

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HiTechRedNeck
June 18, 2013 at 10:14am
Can anyone identify this snake? My buddies dad caught it outside of his house in loranger. Had a few people tell me it was a diamondback water snake, but in all the pictures I've seen online of them, none have a triangular-shaped head like this one. I thought it might be some kind of subspecies of copperhead.
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   buckslayer27
June 18, 2013 at 10:26am
Some water mocassins can actually be that color
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   CDonaldson
June 18, 2013 at 10:35am
Look at the eyes... im 99% sure its just a water snake.. if the eyes are round then its non venomous.. if theyre slanted, its bad juju.... diamondback water snakes can flatten their head when cornered and make it a diamond shape, which gives a false positive on being venomous. the eyes will tell you with certainty
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   Huckleberry
June 18, 2013 at 10:44am
Yep. Common water snake.
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   rice n gravy
June 18, 2013 at 11:08am
make it a dead snake!
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   viciousfishes
June 18, 2013 at 11:27am
I'd rather non venomous snakes than rats. Snakes are good for rodent control. Need plenty of them though.
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   JB
June 18, 2013 at 11:31am
You can't go by the shape of the head. A lot of snakes will flatten their head and body as a defense mechanism.
It's def not a cottonmouth, look how the tail gradually comes to a point instead of being stumped, hence the other name for cottonmouth, stump-tail.
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   AllisonXR-01
June 18, 2013 at 11:51am
common ol' water snake in the only defenseive posture it knows, flattens out to make itself look bigger.
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   slickhead
June 18, 2013 at 11:53am
100% Diamond-backed watersnake (Nerodia rhombifer)
Non-venomous but will bite you, especially if you catch him and throw it in a bucket and poke it!
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   Ricky Pon
June 18, 2013 at 2:16pm
Obviously it has been stated 37x's it is a water snake. It is a Banded Water Snake. Completely harmless.
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   slickhead
June 18, 2013 at 2:57pm
Its not a banded watersnake its 100% diamond-backed watersnake, nothing more, nothing less

/discussion
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   quackboomsplash
June 19, 2013 at 8:12am
a new wallet or beer coozie if you skin it right.
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   lsuguy44
June 20, 2013 at 12:40pm
it looks like a water snake. but snakes can flatten, and blow up their venom gland, which can change the shape of the head, so just be careful with all snakes. that's what is do. I kill everyone is see
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   When all else fails, GO FISHIN
June 20, 2013 at 4:07pm
Pretty sure it's called a western water snake. Imitates a diamond back, is non poisenous, king snake but don't take my word for it. had one in my yard so I looked it up
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   rbay225
June 20, 2013 at 10:31pm
LDWF has an app that includes snake identification for Louisiana. It gives side profile illustrations of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, a description of each and sometimes areas where they are/are not found. I'm sure it doesn't cover everything but has helped me with some identifications in the past.
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   DuckThug4Life
June 20, 2013 at 10:49pm
Diamond Back Water snake just like slick said. If you want to you can tel a poisonous snake from a non poisonous by their pupils. if there cat like there poisonous if they are round they are non poisonous unless its a coral snake and theirs are round also, of course that's if u want to get that close to look. Also FYI there are only 7 poisonous species in Louisiana so your chances are greater for non poisonous snakes
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   madforfishing
June 21, 2013 at 7:09am
i figured it was a rat snake, i catch them in my chicken coop all the time stealing my eggs.
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   Randy Norred
June 22, 2013 at 1:04pm
I think its a diamond back water snake as well, I catch them all the time in my crawfish traps. The easiest way to tell if its poison or not is to look at the eyes. A / or triangular eye is poisionus, a 0 or round eye is not. (This is for louisiana)

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/serpentes/diamond-backed-water-snake
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   lmahfouz67
June 24, 2013 at 7:23pm
definately 100% a diamond back water snake.. no worries
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