Copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix
The venomous snake responsible for more US bites than any other — not because it’s aggressive, but because it freezes instead of fleeing and its camouflage is nearly perfect. Here is how to actually spot one before you step on it.
How to Recognize a Copperhead
Adults typically run 24–36 in (2–3 ft), occasionally reaching up to 4.5 ft. A stout, heavy-bodied snake for its length, with keeled (ridged) scales giving it a rough texture.
Hourglass Bands
Chestnut-brown crossbands shaped like an hourglass or dumbbell — narrow across the spine, wide along the sides. From the side, they resemble a row of Hershey’s Kisses. Juveniles have the same pattern plus a bright yellow-green tail tip.
A Solid Copper Head
A triangular head that is a fairly solid copper or reddish-brown color, without the eye-to-jaw stripe seen on some non-venomous lookalikes like corn snakes.
Freezes, Doesn’t Flee
Where many snakes flee at the first sign of a person, copperheads often hold perfectly still and rely on camouflage — which is exactly why so many bites happen when someone steps on one without ever seeing it.
Commonly mistaken for harmless snakes, and vice versa. Many corn snakes, milk snakes, and juvenile rat snakes are killed every year by people who mistake them for copperheads. The hourglass shape narrowing at the spine is the detail worth actually checking before assuming either way.
Where It Lives
The broadest range of any venomous snake in the US — roughly 25 states, from southern New York down through the Southeast and west into Texas and Oklahoma. It is the most common venomous snake across most of that range.
Highly adaptable: woodlands, rocky hillsides, and river bottoms, but just as comfortably found in woodpiles, suburban gardens, and the edges of backyards close to any wooded area. This adaptability, more than aggression, is a big part of why it accounts for so many bites.
Most Bites, Least Likely to Kill
Multiple sources, including the CDC, attribute the largest share of US venomous snakebites to copperheads — roughly 45–50% by some estimates, well ahead of rattlesnakes. But frequency and severity are different things.
Rarely Fatal
Copperhead venom is considered the least potent of the major US pit vipers. Untreated fatality is estimated at under 1% — a fraction of the risk from a rattlesnake bite. Bites are genuinely painful and always need medical attention, but they are rarely life-threatening for a healthy adult.
The “Step-On” Bite
Most copperhead bites happen exactly the way you’d expect from a snake that relies on camouflage instead of retreat: a hand or foot placed somewhere the snake already was, not an unprovoked attack. Watching where you step and place your hands prevents the large majority of encounters.
Bites more people, kills far fewer
A 30-year US fatality review attributed 90% of known-species snakebite deaths to rattlesnakes and only a handful to copperheads — despite copperheads causing far more bites overall.
Common Questions
Not aggression — camouflage and behavior. Where many snakes flee when they sense a person, copperheads often freeze and rely on their pattern blending into leaf litter. Most bites happen when someone steps on or reaches near a snake they never saw, not from an unprovoked attack.
Hiking or Gardening in Copperhead Country?
The species most likely to bite you is also one you can protect against with ordinary lower-leg coverage — the odds favor preparation over luck here.
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Compare against rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and coral snakes.