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, similar to the ground on which they live, but they sometimes appear pretty whitish. There are visible spots or pits on the heads of these 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.
The Copperheads 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 predominant prey, as they feed on birds, frogs, mice, cicadas, caterpillars and almost any other small animal they manage to hunt.
Among the best hide-outs for the copperhead, wood piles, stone slabs, walls, debris and abandoned or ruined buildings are the most common, which explains the possibility of a human encounter with them in such areas. These snakes are most active in the spring and summer months and as long as the weather stays warm, after which they enter the hibernation period.
Copperhead snakes use the dens in which they spend the winter year after year and usually there are large numbers of other individuals in hibernation together. In summer time when it is too hot outside, the copperhead will stay in the shade during the day and hunt at night. On lovely warm days, this snake will lie in the sun on rocks or wood debris. The young of copperheads are born live and are not hatched; their number ranges between one and fourteen, with the mating period extending ’till mid autumn.
The bites of copperhead snakes require immediate medical care since they are not only very painful but they may also lead to permanent scarring and tissue loss. Avoid copperhead snakes when you come across them. Many people get bitten when trying to kill them or pick them up.
Snakes will not harm you unless they sense danger, when you will see how fiercely they can defend themselves. Statistics indicate that these snakes are the most frequent life threateners in the US, because these Copperhead attack quite out of the blue without sending any warning signals like other species do.
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