![]() ![]() The keeled scales help them move through vegetation, which gets hooked and helps the snake move around with ease. This makes keeled snakes, such as the copperhead, rough to touch. Keeled scales have a ridge down the center, that may extend to the tip of the scale, rather than being completely smooth. Most other snakes have round pupils, which is one of the ways you can identify a copperhead from the lookalikes. ![]() They are responsible for the most venomous snake bites recorded in the United States.Ĭopperheads have eyes similar to cat’s eyes with a yellow eye and black vertical and elliptical pupil. There are a few ways you can quickly identify if you have encountered a copperhead, these include: LocationĬopperheads are more common in the Eastern parts of the United States, including Alabama, Arkansas, and Missouri. Smaller prey is held in their mouths with food being eaten whole. They have a flexible hinged jaw that enables them to swallow a meal whole. Once the venom has worked, the snake tracks down the prey. When they attack larger prey, they tend to bite their prey and release it. They are ambush predators, often sitting and waiting for prey to come past, using their heat sensors to detect and ambush their prey. They are known to hide in low bushes, in trees and have been seen going for the occasional voluntary swim. They are more common on humid nights, just after rain. They are semi-social snakes and while they hunt alone, they often hibernate in communal dens. In summer they tend to be more nocturnal, whereas in spring and fall they are out during the day. They are pit vipers with heat sensory pits between the eye and nostril on the sides of the head, which helps them identify the smallest difference in temperature, ensuring they strike potential prey accurately. The good news is their bites are rarely fatal to healthy adults. Out of most other snakes, the copperhead is the most likely to bite, inflicting immediate pain. They are tolerant of changes to habitat and are also found in suburban areas and some larger cities. They are also found in mountainous areas on dry rocky hillsides and in the Coastal Plain, they are mostly found in lowland hardwood forests and the margins of swamps. They are common in forest areas throughout South Carolina and Georgia. They are not common in most of Florida or south-central Georgia. Habitat and DistributionĬopperheads can be encountered throughout the Eastern and Central United States. The copperhead has a thick and muscular body with ridged scales and a triangular-shaped head. ![]() ![]() Young copperheads tend to be more gray in color with a bright green or yellow tip to their tails, which fades as the snake ages. They have a lighter-colored belly, which is yellow or white with dark patches of varying sizes. They are the only species with an hourglass pattern on their body. If the snake does not have an hourglass pattern, then it is not a copperhead. Each design is wrapped about the body that resembles an hourglass or saddlebag. They are pretty in design in varying shades of browns and reds. They are medium-sized snakes, most common in the Eastern United States. Copperheads are pit vipers, the same as rattlesnakes and water moccasins. ![]()
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