Snake Id Help Needed

[E Green]

I know....it is a mystery for sure. maybe it was sick and not attacked by a predator and it had some type of mutation. maybe it was shedding....wish i knew...mystery continues! haha

I am going hiking later and I am hoping to get some pics of ribon snakes, rough green snake and a diamondback watersnake.....maybe I will get lucky and find something that will help me ID this guy.

I am in Butler County...almost on the border with Carter County near HGHWY 60..couple decent sized creeks here (cane and 10 mile) which are loaded with snakes....lots of forest, some swamp, two ponds.....just giving you guys an idea of the terrain I have around me and where I am in the state so maybe that will help us eliminate some species. that is why I didn't think it was a prairie Kingsnake because my MO Herp guide doesn't have them listed here.

I appreciate the input from everyone...sorry the pic is terrible

edit...this response was posted before I read your last response feathers and fins...I def have no idea...rookie herper here with no clue...haha

[Feathers and Fins]

That area could hold most the suspects. I have found cottonmouths way away from water many times and hognose in heavy rock areas, the guides are just that a guide but by no means the gospel. Just don't pick up a rattler I know more than a few people who tried to play steve Irwin and paid for it.

[wayne b]

I think it is a copper head I have found some here that are about that color with a similar markings. Found 2 copper heads three weeks ago one was the normal color and pattern while the other was darker in color but had the same markings. I also might add that they were found within 100 yards of each other and were about the same size.

[jdmidwest]

It does not look like a copperhead pattern or coloration. There is just something about the scale design on the snake that keeps me leaning toward a rattler. Copperheads are a smooth scale snake, this one is rougher and more defined.

[Al Agnew]

Nope, I don't think it looks anything like a copperhead. They can be dark or light, but they have a pretty characteristic pattern and that ain't close.

Funny, for some reason I keep thinking hognose snake, even though the pattern doesn't match them, either. Like FF, I'd sure like to have seen the whole snake, or at least the head.

[Feathers and Fins]

No way its a Copperhead, even in shed their scale pattern is very obvious and their pattern is very distinct. Hognose crossed my mind but it would have to be a western and that is the wrong place for them, Eastern yes but they are a dark snake even as neonates.

[lee G.]

I am still leaning to the timber rattler, but that is just a guess.

[wayne b]

To be honest I am not really a snake person and for me to id them I usually have to see the whole snake. The fact that I am color blind dose not help. sorry guys

[Al Agnew]

No way its a Copperhead, even in shed their scale pattern is very obvious and their pattern is very distinct. Hognose crossed my mind but it would have to be a western and that is the wrong place for them, Eastern yes but they are a dark snake even as neonates.

I'm not sure...I've seen hognoses in Ste. Genevieve County that were colored like westerns.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Oh come on people, this is too easy. Any halfwit, armchair Crocodile-Hunter-re-run watching, semi pseudo reptile geek could tell you that this is clearly a hybrid, cross bred between 2 sub species. Certain genus can do this and this is obviously a hybrid broad banded water snake and either a midland brown or possibly a fox snake. Not uncommon for snakes to do this. Duh.