Description: A stout bodies, copper, orange, or pink tinged snake with bold chestnut or reddish brown corssbands contricted on midline of the back. The top of the head is unmarked. There is a facial pit between the eye and nostril. The scales are weakly keeled, in 23 - 25 rows and the anal plate is single.
Habitat: Wooded hillsides with rock outcrops above streams or ponds; edges of swamps and periodically flooded areas in coastal plains; near canyon springs and dense cane stands along the Rio Grande. Found from sea level to 5,000 feet.
Breeding: Live bearing. Mates spring to fall, peaking in April to May. One to fourteen young that are 7 to 10 inches longh are born from August to early October and mature in 2 to 3 years.
Range: Southwestern Massachusetts west to extreme southeastern Nebraska south to the Florida panhandle and south central and western Texas.
Diet: If feeds on small rodents, lizards, frogs, large catepillars, and cicadas.The young twitch their yellow tipped tail to lure prey.
Behavior: It basks during the day in spring and fall, becoming nocturnal as the days grow warmer. Favored summer retreats are stonewalls, piles of debris near abandoned farms, swadust heaps, and rotting logs, and large flat stones nea streams. In the fall Copperheads return to their den site, often a rock outcrop on a hillside, with a southern or eastern exposure.
Venom: Although venomous, these snakes are generally non-aggressive and bites are almost never fatal. Copperhead venom has an estimated lethal dose of around 100mg, and tests on mice show its potency is among the lowest of all pit vipers, though slightly stronger than that of its close relative, the cottonmouth. The bite of a cottonmouth is more serious, however, as they have a much larger venom yield than a copperhead. Copperheads often employ a "warning bite" when stepped on or agitated and inject a relatively small amount of venom, if any at all. "Dry bites" involving no venom are particularly common with the copperhead, though all pit vipers are capable of a dry bite.
Bite symptoms include intense pain, tingling, throbbing, swelling, and severe nausea. Damage can occur to muscle and bone tissue, especially when the bite occurs in the outer extremities such as the hands and feet, areas in which there is not a large muscle mass to absorb the venom. A bite from any venomous snake should be taken very seriously and immediate medical attention sought, as allergic reaction and secondary infection are always possible.
Conservation Status: This species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v3.1, 2001). Species are listed as such due to their wide distribution, presumed large population, or because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. The population trend is stable. Year assessed: 2007
Subspecies:
Southern Copperhead (A.c. contortrix) - has hourglass shaped crossbands that are narrow across the midline of the back and the 2 halves often fail to meet. Found from eastern North Carolina to the Florida panhandle, west through southern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and eastern Texas north through southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, western Tennessee, southern Missouri to southwestern Illinois. Photo...
Broad-banded Copperhead (A.c. laticinctus) - dark crossbands much wider then light interspaces, nearly as wide across midline back as on sides. Found from southern Kansas thrugh central Oklahome to south central Texas. Photo...
Northern Copperhead (A.c. mokeson) - dark hourglass shaped crossbands with the wide portions on the sides and narrow across the midline of the back. Found from southwestern Massachusetts to southwestern Illinois, south to northeastern Mississippi, northern Alabama, northern and cebtral Georgia, and the piedmont of South Carolina. Photo...
Osage Copperhead (A.c. phaeogaster) - resembles the Northern, the crossbands are darker, with no spots between bands. Found from northeastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, central and western Missouri, southeastern Iowa, Nebraska. Photo...
