Southern Copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix
Southern Copperhead 3
VENOMOUS. The most common venomous snake at the Arboretum and in the city of Houston. These beautiful snakes are well-camouflaged against the leaf litter of their forest homes. They have coppery heads, pale brown bodies, and darker brown blotches. When viewed from above, the blotches are hourglass-shaped. When viewed from the side, the blotches look a lot like Hershey's kiss candies. Baby Copperheads have a bright yellow or green tail tip. Copperheads are pit vipers, with large, triangular heads, slit pupils, and a small hole (called a "pit") between the eye and nostril. Their necks are narrow and their body widens towards the middle, making them look "fat." Like most pit vipers, Copperheads prefer to sit and wait for prey to come to them. They curl up in the leaf litter or on a log to wait for small animals like mice, frogs, and even cicadas to get close enough to strike. They have large fangs at the front of their mouths. Copperheads will bite if threatened, although adults will often "dry bite" (bite without injecting venom) as a warning. They don't want to hunt humans; they are only trying to protect themselves. The best ways to avoid getting bitten are to stay on the trail, to not put your hand under logs or piles of dead leaves, and to never try to pick up or kill a Copperhead (most bites occur when people try to handle or kill snakes).
Sources and Credits
- (c) Jerry Oldenettel, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7457894@N04/3614626319
- (c) hancnaturalist, all rights reserved, uploaded by hancnaturalist
- Adapted by hancnaturalist from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agkistrodon_contortrix
More Info
iNat Map
| Pattern | bands, stripes |
|---|---|
| Color | bronze, brown, copper, gray, orange, red, yellow |
