Cottonmouth vs Rattlesnake

[chain]

I guess this is the cue for me to tell my "snake handler" story again. ..It was that god awful hot summer in '80 I believe. We had left Silver Dollar City with the kids to go down to 'Dog-Patch U.SA. for the day. Our a/c wasn't so good in the old Buick, and on the way back to Branson we notice signs about a 'reptile house' air-conditioned!

Wife hates snakes and gators but she allowed we stopped to cool and have a cola. The snake handler had several folks already in the show-room, each specimen he would describe, very interesting as had several Cobras, mambas, Coral, and many others. Someone asked if he had a Arkansas Timber Rattler, "oh yeah, I got one right here. The Handler enjoyed his company and was quite the showman, I could tell. Well, I asked if he had a Swamp-east Missouri Cotton mouth, he looked at me, his eye very sprite and said, "son, I not only have a Swamp-east Missouri cotton mouth, I have two, come over here and see!"

Sure enough two big 'ol cottonmouths lay side by side in he glassed  cage. "Watch this," he said, he then dropped a little white mouse, the mouse jumped on the snakes tail and ran the length hopping off the snakes nose. Then, bam! Faster than the eye the snake hit the creature and turned loose, the little mouse just quivered, lay over, and the snake began to swallow it. A proud man was the handler. :