The Copperhead Snake: 3 Myths Busted! (Venom, Aggression, and Identification)
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- The copperhead snake is one of the most infamous reptiles in the Southeastern US, but how much of what we know about these snakes is fact and how much is fiction? In this episode of The Wild Report, we catch a wild copperhead and address some common misconceptions about their venom, aggression, and identification!
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If you've made it this far in the description, remember to be safe when creature adventuring! Most wild animals can cause injury if harassed, and I do not recommend attempting to capture any creatures without purpose and practice. The reason that I interact with wildlife is to produce these educational videos, and I have years of zoology experience under my belt. Also, I always ask permission from a land owner before exploring on their property, and you should do the same.
Keep adventuring everywhere, and keep your adventures safe at all times!
-Ben Zino
"How many are your works, Lord? In wisdom you made them all, the earth is full of your creatures."
Psalms 104:24
#wildlife #snakes #copperhead
Hello, explorers! Really hope that you enjoyed watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it. Copperheads are some of my absolute favorite snakes to observe in the wild and talk about, so if you have any lingering questions please don't hesitate to drop a comment.
Also, in case you didn't see the community tab post, I GRADUATED COLLEGE and am now a 'real' conservation biologist! This summer is going to be packed full of snake research and video production, and I can't wait to bring you all out into the field with me as I investigate biases in snake observation data through a new upcoming series called Field Notes.
Thanks so much for your continued support of my content, and keep adventuring everywhere!
-Ben Zino
Congratulations! That’s awesome. Oh btw I think my 8yo boy is your biggest fan. He brings us pictures of the salamanders he finds out back lol
@@geoffreysquier3738 Thank you! And that's awesome, so glad to hear that he is getting outside and exploring the outdoors!
I live in the Rio Grande Valley, is there a group that picks up copperheads for research here?
Thanks for that video. This is really my mindset on most wildlife in general. It really hurts me when I hear an animal labeled as such a huge threat it hurts. A good example is the African honeybees(aka killer bee as some people call them). People were so worried that they would be a threat to humans and even other bees but they are actually helping other bees thrive especially in Panama. It’s true that they were very aggressive but that has been changing over the years, most likely because they have been adapting to their surroundings and now are more focused on gathering food than protection. Even though my main interest is beekeeping, I’m also a naturalist and love learning anything new about nature in general. Anyways thanks again for the video👍
It’s great you learn to implement your education into UA-cam. That has career potential if you keep at it. I’ve encouraged my old dad to do UA-cam since he has a masters in anthropology but he says he’s too old and tired. I don’t have a degree, but I am still doing video of outdoor adventures to entertain folks!
I was chased by a purple copperhead and it ate my triplet so I don't wanna hear it
This was great Ben! Copperheads are so hated and vilified that I have met people who deeply fear and hate them despite living hundreds of miles out of range of them. After seeing these animals in the wild for myself, I will never understand why. They're so cool! Not to mention really interesting and gorgeous to look at. Great work dispelling all these myths!
- Harrison and Evan
I just spit out my coffee, thanks guys xD
Remove the TVs!!! Myth Buster!! Good points, nice busting. Congrats on the graduation, look forward to seeing your work in the field.
Haha thanks Rob! Yeah hopefully Field Notes comes out okay, it's harder than I though to self-film while doing research but it's also kind of fun.
I defend my yard from copperheads with a strong selection of king snakes....
That is the best copperhead defense haha
@@TheWildReportOfficial haha
The way he says scary noodle like it's a harmless worm is hilarious 😂
Just a scaly worm with ouch juice!
great stuff!
Thanks Dr. Smith!
Hey Ben. Congratulations 🎊 . I saw your Graduation picture I wish you the best of luck in your career and future endeavors moving forward. 🙏
Thanks so much Walter, appreciate your support!
Fantastic video Ben! Huge congratulations on graduating, proud of you bro! Great job working through those myths, looking forward to seeing your next video. Also it was really crazy to see an individual in a new area, doesn't happen often!
Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed and appreciate the support!
Thank you! Love to see that someone is for the conservation of snakes!
Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching Caleb!
Thanks for this video, Ben, and congratulations on graduation! That's awesome. Good luck with the work and the research, and we'll look forward to all your content this summer.
Thank you, appreciate the support
Ok sooo, just moved to Greensboro last summer. Day 3, baby copperhead in back yard. About two weeks in , rat snake front yard and then a racer in the kitchen. Love the welcome committee! Thanks for the vid featuring two of my favorites.
Nice, that's definitely a classic NC welcome committee!
Great information Ben! Thanks for always giving out great information! Definitely sharing!!
Thanks Janet, always appreciate your support!
I see copperheads almost nightly on my walks here in Daniel Island, SC. Such beauties. This island is literally loaded with snakes.
That's impressive, I've never been to Daniel Island but maybe I'll add it to my list!
@@TheWildReportOfficial son and I literally seen 2 youngins just last night within 2 feet of each other, they’re always just off the sidewalks. Wish I could upload the vid here. Place should be called snake island. Lol. rat snakes, corn snakes, racers. Etc. Really is crazy
Great video man! Thanks for educating the common misconceptions this species has!
Thanks man, hope it can change some people's opinions on the species!
Hello from East Texas! My flipsite has many copperheads. Not once have they aggressed me. I don't startle them or agitate them and they leave me alone. Beautiful animals and worthy of our respect.
Hi there! That's so cool, have you ever seen a broadband?
@@TheWildReportOfficial most the ones here are eastern copperheads. Our property has a good mix of snakes though
in the majority of cases as far as copperheads patterns go you are correct but what I would add for safety sake is that there are rarely cases of aberrant patterns which fall outside the typical.
That's true, I just think pattern is a safer bet than other indicators!
Lucky shirt got it done🍀👍🏽 I still can’t thank you enough for helping me change my mind on how to treat snakes. I now let them be, even copperheads.
Oh yeah for sure! And I'm so glad my content has been helpful to you, so glad to hear that you are changing your mind on how to treat snakes :)
So weird. I haven’t seen a snake in a while. Watched a bunch of your videos today, took my kids to our favorite spot on the creek, and there was a snake hanging out on a rock soaking up some rays. I live in central Texas - tons of moccasins. The snake would have probably met his end BUT, thanks to your videos, I checked him out and could tell he was harmless. We watched him for a while, and he kept an eye on us as we dug for arrowheads, and finally got bored and moved along. You saved a cool snake today. EDIT: It was a dark plain-bellied water snake. Nerodia Erythogaster
Awesome video! I’ve been hearing so many myths about the copperhead lately, it kinda bugs me. You did a great job dispelling some of these common myths. I haven’t found a copperhead yet this year, but I’ve found lots of other cool reptiles. Also, where do you usually find Eastern Kingsnakes when you’ve found them before?
Thank you! Yep this is definitely the time of year when copperhead myths get spread around. I usually find Eastern kings in edge habitats, especially by water where other snakes (that the kings eat) hang out!
I just found this channel but I’m so intrigued about snakes and how calm u are with them 😭
That's awesome, welcome to the channel!
Pretty sweet snake! And great video. Brb throwing out my TV
Haha thanks Sean, make sure you have help while you move it out!
Terrific, thank you. I especially appreciate your kindness to the snake, and thanking him. Very cool!
BTW I took some photos of a copperhead under a shale rock shelf so it was a low-light situation. His typical elliptical pupils were most definitely round! So I was able to debunk another myth per the "cat eyes" ID. Just like a cat's eyes, when a snake's eyes are fully dilated they're round. However most folks aren't as nuts as I am to be crawling around with a copperhead at dusk. :-) Thanks again for the well done video.
Awesome! We saw 2 at the McGulliard Falls on Tuesday. One someone had killed in the parking lot the other one was hanging out in a warm side pool along the falls! We were super close to it playing with tadpoles! It didn't move or bother us at all. Thank you for this detailed video!! We are blessed by your content!
Thanks so much for the support, Stacey! Glad you got to find one in the wild and have a positive experience.
@Half-Pint 79 Maybe you guys can go herping together, what are the odds of this random encounter in the comments section of a UA-cam video!
I grew up in Texas and now live in Arkansas, but I've only seen ONE copperhead, and that was ironically enough, inside a college campus building on the 2nd floor. How it got there, I have no idea.
Hmm maybe a confused college student decided they wanted a new pet haha
Haven’t been able to regularly hunt for any in a wide array of areas but I do every chance I get and STILL haven’t come across one! Currently traveling and just caught my first queen snake here in Pinnacle, NC today and it was awesome! We’re from southeast Texas and I’ve caught many, MANY snakes in my lifetime but for some reason the copperhead has eluded my forever! Thanks for debunking the myths for folks that still believe these thing’s amongst other wild exaggerations. I tell people the same things all the time. Highly misunderstood! In the great words of Babo Dioum, “In the end we will only conserve what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
Hershey kiss? I never heard it like that. I always heard hourglass. I'm Up above you in VA and copperheads is my absolute favorite snake around here
From top down they look hour glassish, but from the side I see them more as a Hershey kiss. Either way I totally agree, they are simply gorgeous snakes!
You’re awesome!
Thanks Bambi :)
People and snakes always make me think of that Bill Burr joke about being bitten by a rattlesnake...
"How did it happen? Did you not see it? Were you f---ing with it?"
That second question is usually what I expect. It's my experience that if you are 10X bigger than an animal, it's going to try to scare you off or run. It's like you trying to fight a polar bear. There's usually only going to be one outcome for the smaller guy.
Yes, very true. It's just so hard to convince people that snakes are actually more scared of them than they are of the snake.
I love copperheads! Such a stunning snake truly!
Oh yeah absolutely!
I had one as a pet for over 12 years, it became dog tame, and enjoyed being handled and held. it ate mice and loved cicadas as a treat.
Neat, I've also heard that they snack on cicadas in the wild!
@@TheWildReportOfficial the most copperheads I've ever seen was in a residential area of Rowan County, North Carolina when cicadas were abundant! Also concerning the myth about the Copperheads colors there is such a thing as a striped copperhead. I believe your friend Zack from life's Wild Adventures found a dead specimen in the road on one of his shows. The striped Copperhead seem to show up more in Mississippi for some reason.
We see them sunning themselves on the walking path near our house about once a month. The hubby always gets a big stick and relocates them into the brush so they don't get run over by bikes and so walkers don't get bit - we've actually never had one be aggressive.
That is awesome!
Copperheads are my favorite snake of all time! I really hope to find one in the wild someday. Thanks for this video, I love seeing people appreciating these lovely noodles and dispelling the myths about them.
Do you have any tips for where to look for this spicy spaghetti? I'll be going to virginia, but in terms of habitat (wet areas, fields, etc)? Where do you find them the most?
They are definitely in my top three favorites along with mud snakes and chain kings! Glad you enjoyed the video. Hmm I think the best way to find them is definitely forested areas, especially old-growth with plenty of stumpholes and other cover for them to hide under. Good luck!
@@TheWildReportOfficial Thank you very much! I hope to find at least one, it would be so cool to see one in person
I recommend open terrain that borders the woods and has a fresh water supply near by.. particularly a stream or river.
You should be able to find a good variety of snakes.
@@yasha5041 There's nothing like seeing them in real life!
@@blackie1of4 This is also great advice!
Nice snack !
Do you have stats about how many people in rural wooded areas experience copperhead bites and deaths from those, possibly also just in the southeast vs. northeast/midatlantic? It makes sense that the rates are so low if it’s based on general population rates that include environments where these snakes would not typically be encountered; but I would imagine it would be higher in the geographies it typically inhabits. (I’m in rural eastern Pennsylvania, and copperheads have always been prolific here, but sightings in my area have been steadily increasing over the past decade.)
I don't have specific stats for those demographics, but the information I am referencing is for the Southeast specifically where copperheads are most abundant.
I told you I have seen them. Poor Ben couldn't find one! You see I wasn't looking for it though. We both love rat snakes and I'm going to be looking for one for a pet. I'm glad you found a copperhead and now join me and Harrison to see who can find a mole kingsnake. Hah there's a challenge for you. Keep safe. John
Mole kings are HIGH on my 'want to see' list, but so far they have proven highly skilled at evading my capture efforts.
@@TheWildReportOfficial you mean your toad splash doesn't work for them? I caught one last year, but before I could do a video about it he escaped. So that's three of us looking for one. May the best man win.
Looked like you were on Catfish Lake Rd
I’ve never seen a copperhead in the wild in the brief time I’ve lived in the southeast but I did run into a fatty Eastern Diamondback recently!
Dang I'm definitely not jealous haha
We live in the Texas Hill Country . It's wild! Moccasins, Copperheads, and Rattlers..oh my .. not to mention the unmentionable creatures in the woods that go bump in the night ..I wouldn't trade this kind of living for the world!!!!
Saw one yesterday on the bike trail ….. and it STRUCK at us as we rode by!
They do sometimes freak out if you approach them quickly. For all they know you are a predator that's 100x their size there to eat them.
2:32 kid calls this beast a scary noodle while iam hauling ass the other way as it were to grow legs and chase me
Ben I love Mrs.Zino she’s the best liberty teacher.
She is the best!
Try red river gorge in kentucky lots of species
Where did you get your copperhead shirt from?
Not sure, a friend gave it to me. I think it was a custom airbrush request.
I ran across something in a hole of part of an old foundation of a shed. A hole like an animal would live in. I was weed eating early in the morning and it was cool out. It looked more like an old pipe like 1/2 with a fitting on the end, was beige and possibly a darkish stripe on the top going back. I didn't see any markings on the side. These are things you can't have in your yard, especially with kids or pets.
As far as rat snakes being harmless, not quite so. I am not a snake person. With my mother, you couldn't even mention the name without her getting upset. The point is, that some people are bothered so much by any snake that they literally could die of a heart attack.
Rat snakes can be aggressive if you corner them. You don't want those in the house either or I don't. In fact, that's why I moved out of the broken down rental property because I had two snakes in the house that summer. One was coming into a window at the bed and bit me on the hand. I went to the ER on that one. A lady I know who is a snake person said that coral snakes can be nocturnal.
The landlord wasn't too concerned about either incident. To recap, the second snake actually was coming in through a small hole in the screen wire, into the bed I was sleeping and bit me. The first snake was 3-4 feet and we never found it meaning it was still in the house. Landlord gave me a hoe like device that had the blade straight out rather than angled at 90 degrees. He actually suggested I walk around the house with this if I saw it again.
To live in a house like that knowing there could be something you could step on or that would bite you is something that will give you grey hairs.
As I said, it didn't really bother him too much. His wife sent over a pair of ice tongs for me to catch it if I saw it again. 10" long pair of frickin ice tongs. Really? It did hurt land lord's feelings when I told him I bought a house. Then it bothered him as he knew he'd have to sink thousands into that house to get it up where he could rent it again. It was going down hill and needing a new floor, carpet, etc.
Funny thing about him. I moved to a very nice area and have about 5 acres of woods and lawn. It's out of the way for him to come out this way but about a year later, I see his familiar car pull into the side road that my house was on. I thought oh, he's come to check it out which was fine. He didn't bank on me being near my drive planting a bush.
Soon it was very clear he wasn't coming on in but was trying to back out on the main road which he couldn't do because of lots of traffic. So, he sat there awkwardly for like a minute as I continued to plant the bush, occasionally look up at him but not stare. My guess is after a year he was hoping I couldn't pay the mortgage and lost it. That is an example of a two-legged snake in the grass.
A friend was bitten by a Copperhead about 40 years ago. A few weeks later at a party, he was sitting in a lawn chair resting. His left leg was swollen about 1.5X normal size up to and including his testicles. We were laughing because his left testicle kept protruding from his shorts. Wearing underwear was too painful for him. I do not know how many vials of antivenin he received, but the hospital bill was outrageous. I no longer live in the east. The only venomous snake here generally warns you of its presence. I don't miss Copperheads and Water Moccasins.
Out of all the pit vipers, copperheads are the least venomous snakes. If you're not allergic to their venom, most will not need anti-venom.
Copperheads also give dry bites when startled and stepped on by humans. The most common reactions to copperhead bites are pain and swelling. Very rarely has anyone died from a copperhead bite unless you're allergic to their venom as I stated above.
At wake medical in Raleigh North Carolina 37 people were bitten by copper heads during the month of July. On average each patient was treated with 8 vials of crofab antivenin⚕️ If bitten by any venomous snake seek medical attention ASAP! There have been 5 fatalities from Copper head bites since 2004 Leave them alone unless you have experience with Venomous snakes!
I know that Coral Snakes are deadly to humans and they also eat other snakes, like Copperheads. Does this mean CS's are immune to the venom of other snakes?
Hmm that's a great question, I'm not actually sure! I think they might just be really skilled at hunting other snakes, but I'm sure they have at least some degree of natural immunity because there is no way that they literally never get bit.
Coral snakes king snakes and Cotton mouths are snake eaters and have developed a resistance too Venom.
Here's what I want to know. I want a hot snake, but I don't want one that would outright kill me. So far I've heard about the copperhead, which is native to TN, or the Eyelash viper, specifically bothriechis schlegelii. Which would be more likely to kill me with an outright bite? I'm guessing bothriechis schlegelii, but I'm not sure.
An eyelash viper is far more likely to deal lasting damage than a copperhead.
Is it a kind of viper?
Yes, copperheads are pit vipers!
Yes they're all nice and friendly however they hide in the grass and if you happen to walk by they will light you up quick
It's definitely important to watch your step when exploring in copperhead habitat, especially at night when they are actively hunting!
To the copperhead, yes I'm sorry but that's the guy that makes you famous so you need to be careful I'm not sure he is house broken yet! Haha.
I am also in central North Carolina.
I hate to kill any animal. Will a strike from a copperhead kill a person?
Thank you.
Go to the hospital if bitten by any snake you suspect to be venomous⚕️
Dangerous but not really deadly. What makes them dangerous is you CANNOT see them. I’ve stepped on two that I know of. One of which I killed and discovered it the next morning by my building. The other I stepped on it’s tail right as I noticed it in the woods. I was actively looking for snakes with the second one
Yeah their camouflage is pretty crazy.
Hey kid!
One last thing!
That copperhead is NOT your friend!
And you ain’t no expert like the crocodile Hunter because he was a wildlife expert and we all know what happened to him so… take my advice and find another line of work kid because there ain’t much future in this one and it might be a lot shorter than you think because one wrong move and your career could be over…. permanently!
Yo poor poor mama!
I bet she don’t get a wink of sleep knowing your out there in the woods running around trying to capture deadly snakes!
She has my sympathy!
Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray that mistook his shadow for a Tiger shark in a tragic accident. Do you think that everyone should stop doing medical research on sharks, snakes and all the other species of wildlife that play a role in medicine should stop because of one tragedy? That goes against all scientific and medical research that Steve Irwin and everyone that came before him and will come after him stand for . Kevin Budden captured the first live Coastal Taipan losing his life days after from a bite he received in the process in 1950. That snake was flown by T.A.A. to Melbourne Australia Commonwealth Serum Laboratory on August 1 1950 when venom was extracted from it. That tragic accident led to the development of CSL TAIPAN antivenin in 1955 that has saved thousands of lives since in Australia and New Guinea from the bites of Coastal Taipans and is now used to treat all 3 species of Taipans .⚕️
Booo!
This kids going to mess around looking for poisonous snakes and get bit and that will be the end of him! Dude, find another hobby for content on your channel … or else it’s just a matter of time!
Snakes are venomous not poisonous. If you get bit and you die that's venom. If you bite it and you die that's poison.TOXINOLOGY101
Boo this man!