Copperhead

Description:

Plain copper colored head, light brownish colored body with darker brown colored bands. The bands are wide at the base becoming abruptly thinner at the center of the back. Average length of adults is about 30 inches (76 cm). Copperheads are ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live young. Young are born at a length ranging from 7 to 10 inches (18 to 25 cm) and tend to be more of a grayish color. They have a yellow-tipped tail that fades away after a few years...it is used to lure insects. The Wikipedia article says males are larger than females but I am pretty sure it is the other way around, same with Water Moccasins and Rattlesnakes. The only snakes I can think of off the top of my head where the males are larger are cobras.

Habitat:

They are endemic to North America, ranging from Florida north to Massachusetts and over into the Midwestern states. quoting Smithsonian National Zoo website, copperheads “prefer terrestrial to semi-aquatic habitats, which include rocky-forested hillsides and various wetlands.” They primarily feed on rodents but also occasionally eat large insects and frogs.

Notes:

The subspecies name is the Native American name for these snakes. They are venomous though the potency of their venom is one of the lowest of all pit vipers. Some websites make them sound aggressive but really from my experience, this is not so. Their camouflage is excellent and they tend to sit still rather than run when approached. Therefore people tend to step on them unawares which is the cause for a lot of the bites that happen from Copperheads. I was very nearly a statistic with the snake in these photos. I was getting sawhorses out, doing some home remodeling, and almost stepped on it. The snake blended so well that while snapping the photos, several times I could not find it in the view finder and had to lower the camera to relocate. Even then I could not spot it immediately. It took several moments to find it again, it blended very well with the leaves. In fact I emailed these pictures to my wife and she asked me why I was sending her pictures of dead leaves…. As for the aggression, this snake was extremely calm. Very mellow and I was tempted to pick it up but I decided not to chance it. After I was finished taking pictures I tried to scare it off and it just looked at me like I was crazy or something. Then I attempted to pick it up with a rake to carry over to the woods but it slithered off and mellowed right back out. After the second attempt to pick it up it decided to find somewhere else to chill and disappeared behind some bricks and what-nots that we have stacked up out back.