Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

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AEthelred
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Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by AEthelred »

So I saw a YouTube video of a cotton mouth killing and eating a rattlesnake,I'd guess a very small Eastern Diamondback.I couldn't get how to put the video into the post but if you go to youtube and put in "water moccasin eats rattlesnake it should come up.

I have never heard of this before,has anyone else,I have never heard of a pit viper eating another snake.I have seen King snakes eating copperheds,rattlesnakes.King cobra's eating all sorts of snakes,venomous and non venomous.I saw today on youtube a Red Belied Black snake eating a small Eastern Brown,no surprise,Mulga snakes eat other snakes.

I would have never imagined a cotton mouth eating what appeared to be a small Eastern Diamond back.It clearly wasn't a Pigmy from the coloration and no yellow,so not likely a Canebrake or Timber,Timber's either have yellow or dark black in them and this rattlesnake was grey in color.

Has anyone ever heard of a pit viper eating a pit viper or any other snake?
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Jeff
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by Jeff »

A coworker sent me a photo of an adult cottonmouth eating a juvenile cottonmouth here in Louisiana. Cottonmouths are gluttons for a wide range of prey (fish, frogs, other snakes, small mammals, pig fat, regurgitated sea food, turtles, etc.). They may be an exception within viperids.
Jeff
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Fieldherper
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by Fieldherper »

Here in NC, I've seen a photo of a copperhead eating a corn snake (not another viper). I've also seen a couple of photos of black racers eating copperheads, and of course eastern kingsnakes eating various snake species. I use this info, whenever possible, to deter people from killing snakes indiscriminately.
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by Kelly Mc »

y know,.. there seems to be a feeding promiscuity thats active in aquatic, semi aq reptiles. A Get It While The Get - Whatever it is - doesnt slip/swim/ away.
Water situ accentuates the mobility of some body types.

As for your query its a really interesting one. looking forward to respodents.
AEthelred
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by AEthelred »

Fieldherper wrote: October 13th, 2020, 9:30 am Here in NC, I've seen a photo of a copperhead eating a corn snake (not another viper). I've also seen a couple of photos of black racers eating copperheads, and of course eastern kingsnakes eating various snake species. I use this info, whenever possible, to deter people from killing snakes indiscriminately.
Wow,I would have thought it would have been the Corn Snake eating the Copperhead,not the other way around,being Corn's are related to Kings.No surprise on the Racer eating the Copperhead though
AEthelred
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by AEthelred »

Just saw a Mozambique spitting Cobra eat a Puff Adder,no huge surprise in an Elapid eating a Viper,if the Viper eat the Elapid,a bit more surprising.

I guess a lot primarily rodent eating snakes will eat snakes when rodents are not available.
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by BillMcGighan »

I've not witnessed live ophiophagous behavior in Cottonmouths but have occasionally found water snakes in the gut of DORs.


From the 1907 edition of The Reptile Book by Raymond L. Ditmars where he describes herping in a swamp in South Carolina during a drought :

“The drying up of the water appeared in no way to annoy the Moccasins Some of them were found contentedly coiled on the borders of pools scarcely more than a yard in diameter These latter snakes finding it impossible to seek shelter in the water glided among the roots of trees or among the canes It was a specimen captured under such conditions that revealed possibly the reason for the apparent contentment of the Moccasins during the lack of fish for as we caught him he disgorged two harmless Water Snakes which had been consumed but a short time It should be here understood that the Moccasin unlike the innocuous Water Snakes does not confine its diet to cold blooded prey but feeds also upon birds and small mammals.”


Online Version Page 413
https://books.google.com/books?id=UJOfj ... rs&f=false
AEthelred
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by AEthelred »

BillMcGighan wrote: October 20th, 2020, 3:54 pm I've not witnessed live ophiophagous behavior in Cottonmouths but have occasionally found water snakes in the gut of DORs.


From the 1907 edition of The Reptile Book by Raymond L. Ditmars where he describes herping in a swamp in South Carolina during a drought :

“The drying up of the water appeared in no way to annoy the Moccasins Some of them were found contentedly coiled on the borders of pools scarcely more than a yard in diameter These latter snakes finding it impossible to seek shelter in the water glided among the roots of trees or among the canes It was a specimen captured under such conditions that revealed possibly the reason for the apparent contentment of the Moccasins during the lack of fish for as we caught him he disgorged two harmless Water Snakes which had been consumed but a short time It should be here understood that the Moccasin unlike the innocuous Water Snakes does not confine its diet to cold blooded prey but feeds also upon birds and small mammals.”


Online Version Page 413
https://books.google.com/books?id=UJOfj ... rs&f=false
What are DORs
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by BillMcGighan »

A DOR is a herp that is "Dead On Road".
Yes there are AORs
AEthelred
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by AEthelred »

BillMcGighan wrote: October 22nd, 2020, 3:29 pm A DOR is a herp that is "Dead On Road".
Yes there are AORs
Ok I understand ,around here people call that "road kill" or sometimes slang "road pizza"
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Would a pit viper eat another pit viper

Post by BillMcGighan »

Maybe of interest:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22563
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