These are snakes with attitude, for sure! You little peppers did a great job in handling that big one to keep it calm.

Here is a tip if you are canoeing along one of your Arkansas Rivers. Water snakes like to rest and sun themselves on branches hanging over the water. That way, if something scares them, they can drop into the water and swim away to stay out of trouble. But if you put your canoe right under them, they will drop into your canoe. Be sure you are with people that will not tip over the canoe. When they are in your canoe, it will be exciting.

And, it may sound strange, but when a cottonmouth snake is on the land, it is easy to tell them from a water snake, because they have such a short tail. I know that snakes look like they are all tail, but they are not. The tail starts where the one belly scale turns into two scales underneath. The tail is so tiny on a cottonmouth, it's almost funny.