I've kept several of them over the years. At one time I had all three subspecies here at the same time, Easterns, Westerns and Florida... The westerns are a hoot, because they're kind of dwarfs compared to their cousins. I love the Florida ssp, due to their large size, although I have to say that they're all a joy to keep... not fussy, not hateful and pretty easy keepers overall.
Years ago, I spent time in the Eastern part of SC, and catching cottonmouths there is nearly as easy as a walk in the park. A friend of mine used to walk feeder creeks to one of the rivers near Charleston, and you could find literally hundreds of cottonmouths in a day there. We also found many other native species which we'd catch and release for something to do...
A lot of people ask what a good "beginner" venomous snake is. I can't think of a better captive than a cottonmouth, period... unless you have to have something trendy to show off to your friends... nice snakes!
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