Anybody who falls victim to a Pygmy is in for a good deal of pain and sickness. A victim should get medical help as soon as possible. For shear aggressiveness, however, no snake in the United States can hold a candle to the Florida Cottonmouth. The Cottonmouth has been known to fall off tree branches along riverbanks and into fishing boats. Once in the boats, they then lash out at anything and anybody in sight.
Cottonmouths can reach six feet long.
When young, they are green with orange and brown bands. The background color darkens to olive green or brown and the bands fade as they age. The Florida Cottonmouth has a yellow stripe over its eyes. That stripe is not well defined on another species of Cottonmouth, the Eastern, which lives in the Florida Panhandle and doesn't get into the Funcoast. Both species of Cottonmouth are closely related to the Copperhead, yet another pit viper inhabiting the Panhandle but not the Funcoast.