Water Moccasins and Rattlesnakes. by Tom Pepper 5/2/2014

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1 Water Moccasins and Rattlesnakes by Tom Pepper 5/2/2014

2 I like snakes a lot and am very interested in them because they are very good at surviving against animals that are much bigger and stronger. In my paper I m going to be describing and comparing the Water Moccasin and the Rattle Snake. Water Moccasins Water Moccasins rarely leave a certain area around their water. Like all snakes Water Moccasins are cold blooded. So, after they ve been in the cold water for a while they get cold and when a snake or anything that is cold blooded gets too cold it becomes stiff and unable to move around. So it must find a heat source. The most common heat sources are flat rocks that are exposed to the sun or tree branches. Water Moccasins do not have a very big range of places that they live in. Some of them are lakes, slow moving rivers and swamps. When water moccasins are swimming they usually have their head above the water but some have been caught swimming with their head under. Water Moccasins rarely leave a certain area around their water because it could be dangerous.

3 The Water Moccasin hunts a lot like a Rattle Snake does. Like most snakes water moccasins do not have very good eyesight and they don t have ears. Because of this they need something that can match up to the usefulness of ears and eyes. All snakes have an adaption involving their tongues. A snake s tongue can smell things and sense where something is. They also have things called pits that are located above the mouth and to the right and left so it can sense heat in dark places. If the water moccasin feels threatened it will open its mouth showing a white interior that might scare predator away. If the attacker does not stop the water moccasin will bite often repeatedly at the attacker. Believe it or not snakes are actually cannibals and will eat other snakes.the Water Moccasin actually has predators that are snakes. These snakes are the bluesnakes and king snakes. Unlike many snakes Water Moccasins will face their attacker head on while other snakes would try to get away or hide. Water Moccasins have hollow fangs like all snakes that are poisonous do. Water moccasins hunt a lot like Rattle Snakes because they use the same hunting strategy.

4 The Water moccasin is partly a good survivor because it has a large range of food. As in their name Water Moccasin you can guess that they would live in or near water and usually animals that live in water eat fish yep, who would ve guessed it? Water moccasins don t only eat fish they also eat small rodents lizards and baby Alligators! When they are hunting Water Moccasins usually swim with their head above water, but some have been spotted with their head under water. Water moccasins are partly a good survivor because they have a large range of food so it makes it more easy to find food.

5 RattleSnakes Rattlesnakes have adapted to their habitat very well. Like most snakes Rattle Snakes are nocturnal not only because they are more hidden at night its because they can t survive in the day time. it gets so hot that it could kill a snake. A lot of people think that RattleSnakes only live in hot places but some RattleSnakes live in mountains.during the daytime Rattlesnakes stay in in deep cracks in the ground or in the dens of ground squirrels. Rattlesnakes are not active in the cold weather because if a Rattlers body or any cold blooded creatures body get cold it can tense up and is not able to fully function. Some snakes can be found down south in North America and east in South America

6 Rattlesnakes have adapted to their habitat well because they have passed the extreme test of adapting and surviving. Rattlesnakes are good hunters. Because most Rattlesnakes live in deserts it s hard to find water so the Rattlesnakes have to find someway to fix this problem. They have adapted special scales so that when the snake get water on it the scales absorb the moisture and keep the snake alive. Like Water Moccasins, Rattlesnakes have pits that can sense heat and determine where prey is. This can be useful because they do not have very good eyesight so in the dark this is crucial to getting to prey. Also their tongue is very important because when it bites it injects the poison through hollow teeth so when they bite the pressure goes on the venom sacks right under the eyes and goes in the victim and then the snake lets go and follows the animal s scent and eats it head first! Fangs are two very sharp curved teeth that are hollow and renewable. They also fold in as the snake closes its mouth because otherwise the snake would bite itself. Rattlesnakes are good hunters because they have fangs, pits, venom and their tongue and they use all these very well. Rattlesnakes don t have a very large range of food. Rattlesnakes usually eat mice and lizards. Rattlesnakes main predators are humans and big birds such as eagles. Another is the king snake. There are many different kinds of Rattlesnakes, each with its own separate diet. The diet usually ranges as the snake gets older. Rattlesnakes don t have a large range of food because mostly they live in the desert and last time I checked it s very hard to live in the desert and finding rodents would be very hard.

7 Conclusion I hope this helped you understand how the Water Moccasin and the Rattlesnake are alike and different than each other, and how they survive against a world of bigger predators that want to eat them and kill them. This shows that size does not matter and they proved it by using their adaptations and skill to survive and keep their species alive through millions of years. They are also alike because they both have one of the best weapons of all, which is venom, they also have pits which can sense heat to help find prey in the dark. They are different because they both live in much different habitats. The Water Moccasin lives in either swamps, slow moving rivers or lakes as the Rattlesnakes live up high in mountains or in blazing hot deserts where the ground could kill them because it gets so hot.

8 Works Cited: A. Water moccasins, Adam G. Klien, 2006, Minnesota B. Rattlesnakes, joanne Mattern, 2009, Minnesota. C.Rattlesnakes, doug Wechsler, 2001, New York. D. Water moccasin image: E. Rattlesnake image: F. Title page: G. Water moccasin map: