Leave me alone. Heed their warning. Not for your sake, for they are capable of inflicting upon you nothing worse than a scratch. For their sake, because Earth will be poorer without them. They range throughout the Southeast as far west as Texas, preferring swampy areas where they feed on frogs, fish, rodents, and other snakes.
Water moccasins are capable of injecting large quantities of a toxic venom.
Unless you know your herpetology, give any banded or dark-colored snake near southern watercourses a large berth. A half dozen or so species of water snakes bear a superficial resemblance to either water moccasins or copperheads. However, the venomous pit vipers have vertical, elliptical pupils, compared to the round pupils of harmless snakes, and a side view of the head will reveal the heat-sensing pit behind the nostril. Rattlesnakes With nearly three dozen varieties and ranges that overlap from coast to coast and rise from sea level to 11,000 feet, rattlesnakes are easily the most widespread venomous snakes in North America. Most U.S. snakebite fatalities can be chalked up to eastern and western diamondbacks.