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Southern Copperhead
VENOMOUS |
- Order: Squamata (scaled reptiles)
- Suborder: Serpentes (=Ophidia) (snakes)
- Family: Viperidae (vipers)
- Subfamily: Crotalinae (pit vipers)
- Genus: Agkistrodon (moccasins)
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| Also Known As:
Mocassin |
Scientific Name: Agkistrodon
contortrix contortrix (Linnaeus, 1766) |
| Habitat: Woodlands,
usually near water. |
Ankistron="fish hook," odontos="tooth,"
contortrix="contortionist," perhaps descriptive
of the dorsal pattern
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| Length: normally less than
36 inches; record 52 inches. |
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| Food: Small birds and
mammals, lizards, other snakes, amphibians. Known to eat cicadas. |
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| This copperhead was found along
a nature trail on Little
Rock AFB, in an oak-woodland near a lake. I would never
had known it was there, except I heard a faint rustling in the
leaf litter. |
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| I got to within about 3 feet of
the snake (it was about 2.5 feet long) before it made its
retreat. It never tried to strike, but it did buzz its tail
against the dry leaves as a warning. No venomous snake I
have ever encountered has went on the offensive unless
cornered. This copperhead was able to disappear into the
leaf litter and undergrowth, leaving both of us unharmed. |
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