As a water moccasin grows older, their coloration becomes darker. The pupils are another giveaway but that may bring you too close to a water moccasin bite. Best ways to tell watersnakes and Water Moccasins apart: 1.

Coiled When Threatened It is an easy-to-recognize snake with its triangular shaped head and elliptical "cat-eye" pupils. Where the non-venomous snakes have round pupils, Texas Water Moccasins sport the typical elliptical pupils found in venomous species. BODY SIZE.
The water moccasin is thick while the harmless water snake is slim. Call a professional pest-control service immediately. To avoid confusing water snake and water moccasin, you just need to check on their bodies. It is also known as the cottonmouth, because it threatens with the mouth open, showing the white interior.

Certain features mark differences between the Water Moccasin and the Water Snake, such as pupils being round or vertical. Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper in the subfamily Crotalinae of the family Viperidae.The species is endemic to the southeastern United States.As an adult, it is large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite. The eyes of the water moccasins are elliptical and vertical, like a cat’s eye, and the water snake has round pupils. If you find a water moccasin on your property, never attempt to catch or kill it on your own. Personally, I do not care to get close enough to look a snake in the eye. The Movement A harmless snake the same length would be much more slender and would have a much longer, thinner tail (see below). They are known for their thick bodies and shorter tails compared to the slender water snake.
THICK, HEAVY BODIES: Venomous Water Moccasins have bodies that are VERY thick and heavy for their length, and short, thick tails. Common names: eastern cottonmouth moccasin, cottonmouth moccasin, water moccasin, moccasin Patterning on younger specimens Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus is a venomous pitviper , one of three subspecies of Agkistrodon piscivorus , with different geographic distributions, [6] found in the southeastern United States .

They have a lighter belly, but the stripes and markings go all the way across the belly. Protect your home and loved ones from poisonous water moccasins.

The neck is also smaller than the head which helps you to identify a water moccasin. The water moccasin has a brownish color, but this will also go darker as they age more. You can tell from afar the difference between the two since it is outstanding. The quick and easy way to identify a water moccasin is to look for its wedge-shaped, blocky head (from above, as in a boat, you can't see its eyes), check for the heat-sensing slits beneath and between its eyes and nose, and note its olive, dark tan, dark brown or an almost black body, thick and python-like in its girth, especially in the middle before it tapers to a long, thin tip. When threatened, it may respond by coiling its body and displaying its fangs.