The Copperhead Snake.
Copperhead snakes are the snakes that cause the nastiest and most frequent snake-bite problems in the United States. The copperhead can be distinguished by its stout shape and its neck, which is distinct from the body as well as by its pale cross-band tan pattern that gets darker in the middle and on the sides.
Copperhead snakes have pale bellies, which makes it look very similar to its background, but their colourisation also be whitish sometimes. There are obvious spots or pits on the head of the copperhead snake that appear like tiny dark specks. There is also a rather vague stripe on its head behind its eyes; less prominent on the top, the stripe gets a lot darker towards the sides of the snake’s head.
Copperhead snakes can be found almost anywhere, from rock and pond areas to woods and the shores of streams. Their choice of habitat is dictated by the predominance of prey, as copperhead snakes live on frogs, small rodents, cicadas, lizards, caterpillars and anything else that cabe taken without too much trouble.
The most usual hidey-holes for copperhead snakes, wood piles, stone slabs, walls, debris and abandoned or ruined buildings are the most common, which explains why people come across copperheads so often in such areas. The active months of the year for copperhead snakes are in the spring and summer for as long as the weather stays warm. After that they go into hibernation.
The dens into which copperhead snakes retreat during winter are their homes year after year, and usually there are more specimens living in the same place. In summer time when it is too hot outside, copperhead snakes will stay in the shade during the day and go out to hunt at night. On pleasantly warm days, the copperhead will simply bask in the sun on rocks or wood debris. Copperhead snakes do not hatch eggs, but give birth to live young. The number of young varies between one and fourteen. The mating period extends untill mid autumn.
Immediate medical assistance is absolutely necessary in the case of bites by copperhead snakes since there is the risk of permanent scarring accompanied by really unbearable pain. The best advice you can get when encountering copperhead snakes is to avoid them, because many people get bitten when they threaten the snakes when roaming or hunting.
Snakes will not harm you unless they sense danger, when you will see how fiercely they can defend themselves. Statistics indicate that copperhead snakes are the most frequent life threateners in the US, because these snakes attack quite out of the blue without sending any warning signals like other species do.
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