Description

• unmarked copper-colored head, reddish-brown
• coppery bodies with chestnut brown crossbands that constrict towards the midline
• thick-bodied and have keeled scales.

Habitat

Copperheads prefer terrestrial to semi-aquatic habitats, which include rocky-forested hillsides and various wetlands. They have also been known to occupy abandoned and rotting slab or sawdust piles.

Range

Overall, the species inhabits the Florida panhandle north to Massachusetts and west to Nebraska. The Northern Copperhead (A. c. mokasen) inhabits northern Georgia and Alabama north to Massachusetts and west to Illinois. The Southern Copperhead (A. c. contortrix) inhabits the Florida panhandle north to Southern Delaware and west to SE Missouri, SE Oklahoma and E Texas.