Cottonmouths have been known to prey on almost anything dead or alive that will be a resourceful opportunist.  They will also engage in cannibalism. Cottonmouth's eat a large variety of food obtaining their energy from various vertebrate reptiles, aves , amphibians, and mollusks.  Many secondary consumptions such as leaves, sticks, plants, and animal remains have been found in their diets also. Fish and frogs tend to predominate cottonmouths diets since they make their homes near the same waters this snake resides.

When ponds dry up, cottonmouths enjoy a huge buffet of worms and small fish

Unlike mammals, snakes do not have separate urinary, reproductive and anal openings. Instead the urinary, digestive and reproductive tracts all empty into a common chamber, the Cloaca. All of the waste material is stored here until it can be eliminated. The cloaca opens to the outside through a transverse sit just behind the snakes tail.
Some snakes also have special glands, which also empty into the cloaca. These glands contain a foul-smelling musk, which can be ejected when the snake is frightened or threatened.

The snake's stomach is very strong and elastic, and can expand enormously to obtain the large prey animals eaten by snakes. The digestive juices are powerful so nearly all of the prey is digested which includes most of the bones and teeth. Since snakes digest their "whole prey", they can go for a long period of time without having to eat.

Most reptiles (except the crocodilians), snakes have a very primitive three-chambered heart that is not quite as effective as the four-chambered hearts found in mammals. In snakes the blood is pumped into one top chamber (oxygen depleted) then the oxygen rich blood from the lungs gets pumped into the other top chamber. They all get empties into the lower one and then circulated throughout the body. Because of this inefficient method of distributing oxygen, even the most active snakes tire easily and have to rest for a period of time.

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