Monica Kersch, age 9, of Biloxi, Mine.. for her question:

HOW LONG IS A WATER MOCCASIN?

A water moccasin is a poisonous smake that lives in the Southeastern United States. The snake is usually about three and a half feet long, although the largest ones may grow to be five feet long.

The water moccasin is also called the cottonmouth or moccasin snake. All water moccasins live in the area south of a line running from Cape Charles, Va., to the middle of the Alabama Georgia boundary, then to southern Illinois and from there to the point where the Pecos River and the Rio Grande meet in Texas.

Water moccasins rarely appear above this line.

The water moccasin is a pit viper, like the rattlesnake. It has a hollow, or pit, in the side of its head, in front of the eye and below its level.

The snake is called a cottonmouth because it is supposed to have a whiter mouth than other snakes, but the difference in appearance is not great.

The moccasins like to stay in watery places, on the wooded banks of rivers, in large streams and on lake shores.