# I Saw a Copperhead (Snake)! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594 "2010-06-10T00:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/1 "2010-06-10T00:12:42Z")
I was walking the dog in the park, and we were crossing a rocky area. I happened to look down…and saw the sanke (he was sunning himself). I estimate he was about 3’ long. Needless to say (copperheads are venomous), we turned around and went the other way. First time I have seen one in years-are they rare in New England? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/2 "2010-06-10T00:41:30Z")
How do you know it was a “copperhead?” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/3 "2010-06-10T03:21:13Z")
Massachusetts lists them as Endangered. Where are you? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/4 "2010-06-10T16:46:04Z")
Hello? Any follow-up? You sure it was a copperhead? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/5 "2010-06-10T16:59:16Z")
Sunning himself? When was this? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/6 "2010-06-10T17:03:06Z")
You surely aren’t expecting ol’ ralphie to actually return to a thread he’s started, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/7 "2010-06-10T17:10:21Z")
Three foot-long copperheads in very rare in East Texas. I’ve never seen one longer than 18" - 24", and I’ve seen quiet a few. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/8 "2010-06-10T18:09:57Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > You surely aren’t expecting ol’ ralphie to actually return to a thread he’s started, are you? I was hoping. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/9 "2010-06-10T19:14:56Z")
> [@Tully\_Mars](#): > > Three foot-long copperheads in very rare in East Texas. I’ve never seen one longer than 18" - 24", and I’ve seen quiet a few. I’ve seen them three feet next door in central Arkansas. At least they _looked_ to be three feet. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/10 "2010-06-10T19:21:34Z")
Here in the MO Ozarks, we have 2 distinct subspecies, the Osage and the Southern, with some interbreeding along the I-44 corridor. I have seen 5 copperheads. One was a juvenile on the Katy Trail, near Columbia, MO. One was an adult, approximately 22 inches long, crossing the Gasconade River in Pulaski County, MO. One was an adult, approximately 20 inches long sunning itself on a road early one cool morning in Lawrence County, MO. The other two were at the family property in Barton County, MO. One was about 18 inches, but the other was easily 36 inches. I got a long look at all 5, and am very accurate at estimating size. A copperhead exceeding 30 inches is quite rare. I would suspect that one as big as in the OP up in New England would be nearly impossible, though I wouldn’t rule it out. However I get the impression this snake was on a well-used trail, which would diminish the chances even further. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/11 "2010-06-10T19:26:22Z")
IMHO a lot of snakes get misidentified as copperheads. For one thing, a lot of snakes look vaguely similar to the untrained eye; more to the point, it’s exciting to say you’ve seen a [copperhead](http://www.uvm.edu/~jbartlet/nr260/animal%20life/reptiles/copperhead.jpg) and not as exciting to say you’ve seen a [milk snake](http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/fall2002/images/a8290_15c.jpg) or a [rat snake](http://www.agfc.com/!userfiles/int_images/snakes/greatplains_ratsnake_big.jpg) or a [bull snake](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zilFNcOEQRw/SFMuqtxk6cI/AAAAAAAAAtI/qHaeQlDO5hA/s1600-h/snake.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/12 "2010-06-10T22:18:18Z")
I just wanted to check to be sure (too bad I didn’t have the camera). It WAS a copperhead-the reddish-broen diamond pattern, the flat head identified it. I went back to the rock where I saw it, and measured the rock-it was between 2.5 and 3 foot long. This was in prospect Hill Park, Waltham, MA. I have only seen one once before (in a local zoo). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/13 "2010-06-10T23:42:44Z")
Too bad copperheads are endangered. I wish they were extinct. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/14 "2010-06-10T23:51:37Z")
Endangered? You can’t swing a dead cat around here without… Okay they aren’t that common but at least around here you don’t have to look very hard to find them. Any sunny rock pile is a likely location. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/15 "2010-06-10T23:57:51Z")
Same to your South. Next time I’m taking the advice of the SDMB and using a 12 gauge instead of a .45. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/16 "2010-06-11T00:21:00Z")
[QUOTE=Rafe Hollister] One was a juvenile on the Katy Trail, near Columbia, MO. [/QUOTE] It grew up. Trust me on this–I ran into your snake last year. > [@Tully Mars](#): > > Three foot-long copperheads in very rare in East Texas. I’ve never seen one longer than 18" - 24", and I’ve seen quiet a few. Biggest copperhead I ever saw was the corpse of one that bit a fellow near Longview. It was just under 2-1/2’ long, and it had wrapped around the guy’s arm. He couldn’t dislodge it, so he _drove to the hospital with the snake still attached to his arm_. At least, that’s the story I got from the nurses and technicians. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/17 "2010-06-11T00:28:16Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > IMHO a lot of snakes get misidentified as copperheads. For one thing, a lot of snakes look vaguely similar to the untrained eye; more to the point, it’s exciting to say you’ve seen a [copperhead](http://www.uvm.edu/~jbartlet/nr260/animal%20life/reptiles/copperhead.jpg) and not as exciting to say you’ve seen a [milk snake](http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/fall2002/images/a8290_15c.jpg) or a [rat snake](http://www.agfc.com/!userfiles/int_images/snakes/greatplains_ratsnake_big.jpg) or a [bull snake](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zilFNcOEQRw/SFMuqtxk6cI/AAAAAAAAAtI/qHaeQlDO5hA/s1600-h/snake.jpg). True enough. When I was eight or so, a [cobra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodon) chased my cousin and me down my driveway! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/18 "2010-06-11T00:30:58Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > He couldn’t dislodge it, so he _drove to the hospital with the snake still attached to his arm_. Snopes needs to research that. We saw one I swear was five feet long crawling across the road, so it must have been three. Mrs. Plant missed it with a Chevy station wagon. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/19 "2010-06-11T00:32:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Snopes needs to research that. Nah, it’s too cool a story to debunk. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594/20 "2010-06-11T00:43:51Z")
> [@SoulFrost](#): > > Nah, it’s too cool a story to debunk. Shucky durns! I real man would have snaped it like a whip and made it’s brains shoot out. :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-copperhead-snake/542594.md?page=2)