skeleton

[EricIvins]

Look at the pore on the jaw........Those teeth are pretty much standard recurved teeth that alot of snakes have.......What you see now you probably wouldn't recognize in a live snake, becase of the membrane that hides 85% of the teeth themselves......


If you really want to prove it was a Boid, all you have to do is find the spurs.........They'll be more pronounced than anything native.......

 

[Swampy459]

Look at the pore on the jaw........Those teeth are pretty much standard recurved teeth that alot of snakes have.......What you see now you probably wouldn't recognize in a live snake, becase of the membrane that hides 85% of the teeth themselves......

Wrong again,

The pore you mention is where a ligament attaches the two halves of the mandible.

Now, forget about the jaw for a second, on the tip of each rib you will see a small bulb of bone. Now, look at this photo of a boa constrictor skeleton.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/3043543008_16205748ba.jpg?v=0
Notice anything?

Colubrids and Pit Vipers have sharp ribs, they don't need the enlarged rib tip to support the extra weight.

Oh, and since you say I wouldn't recognize the teeth because all I see is live snakes, here are a couple of pics of snake skulls that I prepared with my colony of dermestid beetles... I am quite familiar with snakes of the skeletonized persuasion.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15334&id=1772490464&l=3fd39db36c

Again, you said it was a cottonmouth or a watersnake.

Both are impossible.

Chad Minter
http://www.envenomated.com

 

[Tramonte172]

The size of the ribs and teeth seem to indicate that the snake was arborial. It needs to be poweful for climbing and to hold on to a tree while it catches and constricts its food. The teeth look like it needs to catch something from odd angles and be able to hold on to the food even if only one or two teeth penetrate it. Teeth like that look like they are used for snatching birds or arborial mammals. My vote if for a large boid such as a columbian boa.

There is my 2 cents.

 

[xrayjeeper83]

I have no clue about the type of snake, but im amazed the OP hasnt seen any cottonmouths in florida. Growing up there was a creek near my house that had tons of em.

 

[Sylvias]

I look....
Although I am probably the worst field herper there is but I've never seen any hots here and I DO look for them..... about the most uncommon thing I have ever seen is a ribbon snake -.-
This area that I am in doesn't seem to be preferred cotton mouth territory... considering where I have found them in other states at least... but who knows... you would think where there are water snakes there are cotton mouths..... but not true in my case

It might be that I just can't get far enough away from civilization and the people in the area kill anything with less than 2 or more than 4 legs.....

 

[snakeguy101]

I have no clue about the type of snake, but im amazed the OP hasnt seen any cottonmouths in florida. Growing up there was a creek near my house that had tons of em.

when I lived in jax I only ever found one. Here in Gville, I can find a several dozen a day if I looked. It is 20% location, 30% conditions, 50% luck no matter what though.