Copperheads: Fact & Fiction was originally published in the BFEC Newsletter, Vol. 16/No. 1, Winter 2012.
Knox County was once home to vast tracts of old growth forest and many animals that no longer roam the countryside, like wolves, mountain lions, bison, elk and the Northern copperhead.
The Northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen) once inhabited 26 counties in southern and eastern Ohio, but due to habitat loss now inhabits just eight. Though sightings are still rumored in Knox County, the last verified sighting occurred in mid-1970s.
Copperheads are consistently misidentified for several reasons, firstly because they are relatively uncommon throughout much of their range. Where they are common, they are quite secretive, and therefore are not widely encountered like rat snakes or garter snakes. Any unusually patterned or aggressive snake often becomes a suspected copperhead.
This snake requires large tracts of wooded, south facing hillsides with large rocks and crevices for hiding and hibernating. Feeding mostly on small mammals such as deer mice, chipmunks, and voles, as well as amphibians and other snakes, copperheads are, for the most part, "lie-and-wait" predators that ambushes prey.
Copperheads belong to a group of snakes known as pit vipers, which have special heat sensitive pits in the front of their face. These pits are able to form a "picture" of prey using the animal's body heat, much like an infrared camera. This also allows them to determine an animal's size so they can avoid large predators or shovel-wielding humans.
Once a copperhead bites an animal, it lets go of it immediately and waits for the carefully regulated amount of venom to take effect. After an animal is incapacitated, the copperhead can use its heat-sensitive pits to follow a heat trail left by the animal, as well as its ribbon-like, forked tongue to "taste" where the animal has been.
No snake is more shrouded in folklore, mystery and misinformation than the copperhead. Appalachian folklore tells us that a copperhead smells like cucumbers when unknowingly approached or just before it bites.
Black rat snakes are also sometimes referred to as "pilot snakes," based on the notion that they lead copperheads to safety, and if a rat snake is spotted, you can be sure that there is a copperhead lurking behind it.
Another perplexing, yet interesting myth involves black helicopters, covert operations and turkeys. Starting in the late 1980s, stories began circulating that the state government was reintroducing copperheads and timber rattlesnakes into the wild by flying over large woodlands at night and dropping snakes attached to tiny parachutes to facilitate a safe landing. The reason for this: the snakes would eat the eggs and young of Ohio's growing turkey population, therefore keeping it in check.
Some of these stories do contain a microscopic bit of truth. Copperheads, like most snakes, release a scent, or "musk," when threatened, although it doesn't smell very much like cucumber.
Copperheads, rattlesnakes, and black rat snakes all hibernate in similar areas, often a deep rocky crevice on a sunny slope. During Ohio's settlement in the early 19th century, settlers often found these and other snakes seemingly "living" together in these areas, and somewhere the myth of the "pilot snake" was born.
As far as helicopters and parachuting snakes, this is a classic urban legend that plays on our fear of snakes and social or political anxiety, and will resurface when, like most urban legends, it is needed.
Copperheads are commonly thought to be aggressive, but just the opposite is true. Unlike their close cousin, the timber rattlesnake, copperheads lack the auditory warning system a rattle provides. They instead rely on cryptic coloration, not aggression, to avoid interactions with humans and predators. They prefer to hide in leafy debris and go unnoticed.
If a copperhead bites, often it is because it was unnecessarily handled or stepped on accidentally. In almost ALL cases of venomous snake bite, human error is to blame much more than the snake.
Consider these statistics:
Because knowledge can help conquer fear, and because old western movies are a persistent, errant form of snakebite first aid knowledge, we thought we'd include some tips in the event that you are bitten by a venomous snake.
Here's what not to do: apply a tourniquet, cut the wound open, attempt to suck out the venom or drink alcohol, coffee or soda. While once accepted forms of treatment, they were often worse than the injury and lead to infection, loss of a limb or aid the delivery of venom by accelerating the heart or thinning the blood.
If bitten by a venomous snake, the first and best rule is to stay calm and seek medical attention. Then position yourself so the bitten arm or leg is below heart level, gently cleanse the wound with soap and water, and apply a loose sterile bandage.
To help prevent snakebite in the wild, always remember to watch where you put your hands and feed, wear sturdy hiking boots or shoes (not sandals or flip flops), never pick up a snake and have a healthy respect for all of the natural world.
Because of their limited range and secretive nature, copperheads are not commonly seen. IF you did happen across one, you would notice these traits:
Two other Ohio snakes have patterning that could, at first glance, appear similar: the milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) and the Northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). Luckily there are some easy ways to distinguish them.
Milk snakes have richly colored rectangular splotches along their back, and vary in color from red-brown to a deep gray. They can be easily differentiated from copperheads by a series of "checkerboard" splotches along their belly. Reaching a length of up to 36 inches, they are harmless to humans, but may "rattle," or vibrate the very tip of their tail in order to scare predators and humans when encountered.
The Northern watersnake has a diamond-like pattern which is wide along the back and narrow on the sides, which can initially appear similar to a copperhead. But the copperhead's pattern is, in fact, the reverse: its dark brown hour-glass pattern is narrow along the back and wide at the sides.
Northern watersnakes also have a brown drab head, while copperheads have distinctly copper-colored, triangular heads. And as the name implies, Northern watersnakes do not stray from water. They have an overall foul temper and can be quite aggressive when they are provoked. That feisty snake you encountered at the edge of pond? Probably not a copperhead.
Although copperheads are dangerous, the chances of encountering one in the wild as you hike around Knox County are slim to none. If you happen across a snake you do not recognize, admire it at a distance and leave with a good photograph, not an injured or dead snake.