The picture here is a water moccasin I killed a few weeks ago on Cross Lake in Shreveport, LA. I see them several times a week swimming close to the shore. The balcony on my back porch provides a great elevated position to spot them and kill them. I’ve been using a Gamo Whisper pellet gun 1200 feet per second. I’ve been able to take out 10-12 snakes over the past several months, but this is the only one I’ve been able to pull out of the water after the kill. This particular water moccasin was not ready to die after I shot him, he was still alive when I pulled him out of the water with my rake, so I finished him off by taking a machete to his head.
Post Update – it turns out this is not a water moccasin, it is a banded water snake. The moral of the story is that if you see a snake swimming by your dock, you should not try to shoot it with a pellet gun, until you can confirm if the snake is a water moccasin or a banded water snake. As the snake is swimming by extremely fast, make sure and check to see if it has a fat head and a blunt tail. Banded water snakes are definitely something that you DO not want to kill because they eat so many rodents and are extremely friendly. In fact they make great pets.
Cross Lake Shreveport 
That is not a water moccasin, it is a banded water snake.
I’m pretty sure it’s not even a banded water snake. I think it’s a Western Fox Snake.
Banded Water Snake
Western Fox Snake.
Nope it is a diamond back water snake. Non venomous. Shame to kill any snake especially harmless ones.
Everyone knows that snakes continue moving after they’ve been shot, or even chopped w/a machete, or a hoe. Since this is the first one that you’ve been able to pull out of the water after killing it, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But seriously…wow. Have you lived on the lake very long?
Jennifer you don’t have to live on a lake to have water moccasins. We have a pond over 5 acres away and still had them on our door step and flower beds.
PS—after having my Dad (who grew up on Cross Lake, as did I) look at your photo, he’s believes that you have killed a banded water snake…not a water moccasin, as water moccasins have a blunt tail…and the one you have here does not.
PS…STOP KILLING THE SNAKES!!! If you don’t like having them in YOUR backyard…MOVE AWAY from the lake, goof ball! God forbid you might see an alligator…I hope you don’t have a boat..
PSS..22 CAL. guns are illegal to use on the lake….you’re breaking the law and telling everyone about it! DUH!
Jennifer you are living in a dream world! Do you no anything about water moccasins at all? They aren’t pretty or cute! Those snakes will literally go after you. So a person should move away from there property so deadly snakes can stay. You don’t have to live on a lake to have water moccasins. We don’t have a lake and we have them here. We have a small pond over 5 arcs away and they still end up on our door step. So we should move away and let the snakes stay here. Don’t kill the snake but you pets can die bc of them. Your cats, dogs or horses. My mom had two goats killed recently…by a water moccasin bite. Ya gators are so friendly too. Tell that to the pony that a gator almost pulled into the water! Its not illegal to kill a snake…its not illegal to kill something that is on your property and its not illegal to kill something threating your own animals on your own property.If its wrong to kill wildlife and its crazy to stand by and watch wildlife kill your animals thats in a fenced in yard! I love wild life too but not when its killing one of my animals bc they are over breeding and they are everywhere!
It was shot with a pellet gun NOT a .22. I was not aware of
it being illegal to kill a snake, will you please share the
specific law you are referring to? As far as the snake being a
water moccasin, it sure looks like one to me. Next time I see a
snake close to my house, I’ll make sure and check if it has a blunt
tail before I shoot him.
You’re a moron. You don’t even know what you are killing. Many species of snake are disappearing because of numbskulls like you. Snakes do not attack unless trapped AND threatened. As Jennifer says, if you don’t like snakes then move somewhere else. Does using your gun make you feel manly? You’re just a jerk.
Actually False: snakes don’t attack unless trapped and threatened…false! Water moccasins will go after you! And yes they will attack without being trapped or you threatening them! No only a moron would allow a deadly snake stay around and keep breeding! I don’t know where u are from?! Where we live water moccasins are bad when it floods from a heavy rain storm! They are everywhere! Move some where else like where? Snakes are also found in city limits! I have grow up on a farm….country life and also lived in the city. You wouldn’t be saying how cute these deadly snakes are when your property becomes over populated with them. Or when you, someone that you care about are bitten, and/ or when one of your pets dies bc of being bitten by one of them. Trust me its not pretty! Especially when they are bitten in the throat and gasping for air! Or going to get into your swimming pool and one is swimming around in there!
Don’t call people morons when you’re quite WRONG! We”be had water moccasins run us out of our swimming holes, we”ve had them come at us in boats crap they’ll drop in your boat just to bite you! They are extremely aggressive! And territorial as well! I can see that you have no clue about what you’re talking about you must not run into as water moccasins or you’d be cheering about a dead one! I hope you educate yourself a little better before you go calling folks morons! I knew what kind of gun he was talking about and IM A WOMEN! Maybe it because I actually GO OUTSIDE? Try that sometimes,you’ll see these snakes ain’t nice at all. This kind of out crap is way our country’s going to pot! We got people that live in a dream world, and the liberals are why so much filthy craps on tv and evil grows I don’t think that there’s much of anything they don’t thinks ok! It’ll be legal before long for a man to marry his dog! Your way of thinking is really stinking! Like all other the liberals in the world,protect what hurts you!
Yeah, That is a common banded water snake… look at its bands on the body, the girth of its body, and the head…. How about just not messing with them, its not like snakes stay in one perticular spot…
It is clearly a banded water snake, a common species. I suspect all of the 10-12 snakes you killed are banded water snakes. Snakes (even water snakes) control rodents. A water moccasin is usually dark with a fat head and blunt tail. I can’t stand irresponsible people who kill the good snakes because they don’t have a clue what the differences are between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. Or, does it make you feel like a big man if you kill a poisonous snake?
They kill rodents ? Yeah! Like frogs and small fish lizards maybe a mouse from time to time. Yeah them dang pesky frogs and lizards! Hey, come to think about it, ain’t that WHAT FISH EAT? Yeah leave them snakes alone! Smooth move.
Please help. I live on 14 acres of land in Louisiana, with 2 bodies of water on the property. Recently my family has had an infestation of water snakes seen on land. An animal control technician has verified that they are water moccasins. Please let me know what I can use to kill these snakes either in the water or something I can use around the water to keep them from getting too close to my home.
Get a deer stand or another high place close to the water. A Gamo Whisper with a good scope. Hang out and start tracking and killing them. They are easy to spot swimming along, you just need to get it sighted in. They are about to start becoming much more active since it’s getting warmer. After you get a few share some pics.
yea i know something about those kinda snakes. this is what i did . i put up a chicken fence an then i turned it into an electrical fence an i had that around the bodies of water. it works .an if a snake touches it till send a shock wave throw out the snake an till die a slow death within a few hours becuz itll make the heart slowy stop
Sulfur, get you some goggles to protect your eyes and you can us a flour sifter or toss it by hand. Snakes hate it,why? Have you ever got it in your eyes? OH GOOD. GRAVY THE PAIN! But put it out when it’s dry, you can also get a sprayer and spray garlic juice! Ol billy the roach man won’t tell you this,cause he can’t tell all of his tricks!lol. I hope this helps.
Actually I have lived in the city and in the country. There are deadly snakes in both places. In Florida rattle snakes and water moccinasin both I have seen more than once. Only a fool would mess around a snake to see if its a deadly snake or not. Snakes going extinct that a bunch of bull. We moved back to the country part in FL about a year ago and when it rains alot there are water moccasins everywhere! One week alone there were 7 in our yard. Now I don’t want me or my kids or family pets killed by those things. And yes they are nasty! They will actually go after you…. I have seen that for myself. My mom has a farm she has almost gotten bit by a water moccasin that was laying in her flower bed and two of her goats where bitten by a water moccasin and died recently. I don’t know how anyone can say that snakes or gators are going down bc of people….. those things are everywhere! I can’t tell you how many gators I see and we even had gators coming straight on the property and attack live stock. As far as some people saying that its wrong that’s bc your not seeing your pets being killed by those things, or over populated where they are everywhere on your property, have almost been bitten by them yourself or care if one of your own kids gets bitten by one of them! Its one thing if you are swimming in FL waters or where they are water moccasins…your in there territory but not when they are literally coming on your door step. Now, one thing that does work to control them if the ground isn’t flooded is MOUTH BALLS snakes do not like mouth balls. Throw them in your flower beds and they will not go in the flower beds and even around your fence line but like I said if ITS NOT FLOODED! Mouth balls of course melts in the rain…… lets just say you will be buying a lot of mouth balls.
1st off, that is a diamond back water snake. nonpoisonous. water moccasins are short and stuby and look a dull black. 2nd nonpoisonous snakes have round pupils and poisonous one have cat eyes except for the coral snake. most of the snakes you actually see swimming in the water or hanging in trees are nonpoisonous.
Pretty sad when you have to shoot and kill wildlife to identify it. Perhaps you should put the gun away and educate yourself a little more before you start shooting again. Please share your new found knowledge with your neighbors and stop the needless slaughter of harmless animals and animals protected by law because of encroachment by humans and habitat loss.
I appreciate your post update and explanation to others. Education is the answer for so many of the world problems.
Unfortunately your wrong about that,we feed millions of child molesters and killers everyday! I think all of y’all just wanta gripe about something! I don’t kill king snakes but I have! It’s like daddy always said a good snakes a dead one! I didn’t have time to inspect the Pupils of his eyes,by the way! Or stretch him out and look at his butt to see if it was fat or thin or nothing like that he scared the crap out of me and I chopped him with the shovel before I could think, if y’all want to pee and moan about something why don’t you gripe about what the scientist keep doing to the lakes? Like the nutria rat ! And all the other crap they keep doing! Do some gripping at them! Them it’ll be for a good cause!
Novella is retarded- encoraging people to go around and shoot anything that moves- if snakes are so bad maybe we should all go around and start shooting people- they’re much worse than snakes.
Man, stop shooting snakes for the hell of it. They have their place in nature just like the rest of us. If they get on your deck, fine, but otherwise please stop.
kill them, kill them, kill them, it is very very very easy to tell the difference between a poisonous snake and a nonpoisonous snake, diamond shaped head = poisonous … Stubbed nose head = nonpoisonous Kill the water moccasins for they will attack you, i have been fishing in a boat and one jump in my boat and literally try and attack me! they will bread and take over your pond attach your pets and if not careful will attack you! i love snakes they are beautiful creatures! i own two, corn snake, python, and i love them but deadly snakes are no fun i have children, educate your kids to know the difference and always get an adult if they are not sure!
I constantly emailed this website post page to all my associates, since if like to read it after that my friends will too.
I have a nice little fish pond. We noticed that our fish were disappearing. Husband put chicken wire over pond. We saw another fish gone. Then one day we went outside to see a very large snake skin hanging on the ckicken wire. There was a water fall attached to the pond, and my son picked it up with a shovel. Yep, there was a huge moccasin there. It lunged at my son and I holler kill it, which he did, It’s mouth was opened and you could see the white inside. Guess he had found a nice cool place to live, it was near water, had food, my fish. I’m sure glad that we killed that thing. My Grandchildren would go to by the pond the minute they would come to my house. They loved seeing the fish. And this little pond is right next to my patio.
that is a common water snake we have them here in FL. i have many pictures of that snake (marking wise) its not a water moccasin generally if u dont step on them
Idiots, I’ll kill a snake when I see one, don’t care what kind it is
That’s because your a retard. You live a life of fear and stupidity. Hill jacks are garbage.
It’s very easy to find out any topic on net as compared to textbooks, as I found this
post at this web site.
I think that what you published was very reasonable.
However, what about this? what if you were to write a awesome title?
I mean, I don’t wish to tell you how to run your blog, but what if you added something to maybe get a person’s attention?
I mean Water Moccasin Kill on Cross Lake in Shreveport, LA | Cross
Lake Shreveport – CrossLakeShreveport.com is kinda boring.
You might peek at Yahoo’s front page and see how they create article
titles to get people to click. You might add a related video
or a picture or two to grab people interested about everything’ve written.
Just my opinion, it could bring your posts a little livelier.
My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was totally right.
This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information!
Thanks!
Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading?
I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if
it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
images are loading fine, not sure what the issue is.
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It
positively useful and it has aided me out loads.
I hope to contribute & help other users like its aided me.
Good job.
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back in the future.
All the best
Everyone loves it when folks get together and share thoughts.
Great site, keep it up!
You should have ate it,snakes are delicious
That was not a Water Moccasin. That was a Diamondback Water Snake (Nerodia rhombifer). It is a NON venomous snake. For any snake issues, please contact Steve’s Snaketuary.
Too bad that’s not a water moccasin or even a venomous species of any kind. It’s a southern banded water snake. Closely related to the garter snake. Hillbillies are so damn stupid it hurts to know that there are people this stupid out there.
That’s not a banded watersnake or a moccasin. It’s a Diamondback watersnake. I catch them all the time. Moccasins are normally relatively fat and while most watersnakes have a white belly, theirs are black. A moccasin will have an arrow/spade shaped head with vertical slit pupils like a cat, as all pit vipers will have. A watersnake will have a round head with circular pupils. Both snakes will bite you the only difference is the diamondback will only bite when it feels threatened and the moccasin will actually charge you.