Copperhead Snakes

February 25th, 2009 |

Author: Reptiles // Pets, Livestock, and Wildlife // ArticlePros.com

Copperhead snakes are the snakes to cause the nastiest and most frequent of problems in the United States. The copperhead can be distinguished by the stout shape and the neck 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, similar to the background, but they sometimes appear pretty whitish. There are visible spots or pits on the head of copperhead snakes that look like darker tiny specks, but there is also a rather discolored stripe on the head area behind the eyes; this stripe looks very diffuse on top but it gets brownish towards the edges.

Copperhead snakes live in all sorts of habitats, you can find them under rocks, in woods and on river banks or in areas around ponds. A specimen will choose its habitat depending on the prey, as copperhead snakes feed on birds, frogs, mice, cicadas, caterpillars and other small animals they manage to hunt. Among the best hide-outs for copperhead snakes, ,wood piles, stone slabs, walls, debris and abandoned or ruined buildings are the most common which explains the possibility of a human encounter in such areas. The active life of copperhead snakes goes on in the spring and summer months and as long as the weather stays warm, afterwards they enter the hibernation period.

The dens in which copperhead snakes retreat during winter are their homes year after year, and usually there are more specimens living in the same abode. In summer time when it is too hot outside, the 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 their siblings alive, and their number varies between one and fourteen, with the mating period extending till mid autumn.

Immediate medical assistance is absolutely necessary in the case of bites by copperhead snakes since they have the risk of permanent scarring accompanying really unbearable pain. The best advice you can get when encountering copperhead snakes is to avoid them, because many people get bitten when threaten the snakes by maneuvers or hunting attempts. Snakes will not harm you unless they feel threatened, then, you will become the victim of a fierce attack by a creature that is just as afraid of us as we are of them. Statistics reveal that copperhead snakes have the highest incidence in bite frequency in the United States, because these snakes attack quite out of the blue without giving threatening warnings like other species.

This article was written for "Snakes, Cobras and Pythons" by Colin Jones of http://caring-for-snakes.the-real-way.com You may use it but you must retain this resource box and active hypelinks.