canklecat

Rattlers usually dislike and avoid water. They're among the very few critters that do respond to being squirted with a water bottle. Somewhere around here I have a bike mounted video of me chasing a snoozing rattler off the road using a water bottle.

Even when they are near bodies of water they generally avoid being too close. They prefer dry dens and get most of their moisture from prey. In the desert rattlers are known to drink the little water they need by drinking dew and collected moisture off their own scales.

There are non-venomous snakes that resemble rattlers that do hang around and even swim in rivers, lakes, etc. A friend who paddles around the local rivers and lakes video records every outing and has recorded those snakes that resemble rattlers at a glance. Hog-nosed snakes are easily mistaken for rattlers but are non-venomous. Ditto bull snakes, rat snakes and others that have rattler-like markings.

And of course water moccasins/cottonmouths swim and are usually found near bodies of water, although they'll occasionally sun themselves on rocks and sidewalks and fall asleep there after dark when the temperature cools down and they become sluggish. They've often approached me while I'm fishing from shore, but tend to leave as soon as they realize I'm too big to eat. But it's a good idea to wear boots when fishing from shore or wading in areas infested with water moccasins.

Cottonmouths tend to ignore being squirted with water bottles. I'll use a stick or even an extended bicycle pump to shoo them off the road or sidewalk. An awake and alert cottonmouth can sense when we're too big to eat so while they can react defensively and seem aggressive, they almost always prefer to escape. Usually it's the babies and adolescents that fall asleep on sidewalks. I don't often see adult cottonmouths in the open like that. They've lived long enough to be more cautious. Baby and adolescent mocs are idiots, just like human kidlets.