by Joel La Rocque

Created on: July 31, 2009   Last Updated: August 01, 2009

The Copperhead (Agkistrodon c. contortrix) is quite possibly the most misunderstood pit viper living in North America today. There are five sub species of copperhead with the largest being the Southern copperhead (A.C. Contortrix). This species for the most part has a light gray base color with chestnut brown hour glass markings running the length of the body. The narrow portion of the hour glass is positioned along the spine. Differing from its cousin, the Northern copperhead (A.c.moccason) whose hour glass markings only rarely meet along the spine giving them more of a wide triangular pattern so to speak. The northern species are also not quite as large and have a darker gray base color which aids in them by absorbing heat from their surroundings faster, living in a colder portion of the US. The Copperhead of the mid section of the US is the Osage copperhead (A.c. phaeogaster). This sub species is similar to the northern sub species with wider markings and most have a plumper midsection. One of the western subspecies, the Broad banded copperhead (A.c. laticinctus) can be recognised immediately by its banding pattern, which are similar to extremely wide chocolate brown bands rather the hour glass designs, Its size is similar to the southern copperhead. The Texas Trans-Pecos copperhead is endemic to that state. whose designs are more on the orange colored side with brownish outlines along the inner edges of each marking.

As for this snake being misunderstood, I feel it is an understatement. Some feel that this snake will strike at any movement within its range. When compared to rattlesnakes and its first cousin the cottonmouth (A.p. piscivirous) the copperhead is supposed to win hands down when it goes to who will strike first. I personally have worked with all species of copperhead and find them to be exactly the opposite. On several tests in the wild, I have found they are very placid and not inclined to strike unless they are outnumbered by spectators. Most tests are done while researchers are in a small group. This immediately puts the snake on edge once it realizes that all of its escape routes have been cut off. When I preformed my studies, I had all that were with me remain at a distance and approached the snake head to head, kind of being on even ground. The results were that the snake never once struck. This was done a total of 24 different times at different locations and of course different snakes.

The venom of the copperhead is protein based and

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