Copperhead Snake Identification: 3 Easy Tips!
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- Опубліковано 19 кві 2023
- Copperhead snakes are among the most feared and misunderstood reptiles in the Eastern U.S, so in this episode of The Wild Report let's learn how to identify a copperhead and learn more about how dangerous they actually are!
If you enjoyed this video, please be sure to leave a like and share it with your friends. If you didn't, please leave a comment telling me what I could improve on. For more educational wildlife content, subscribe to my channel. New videos go up on Thursday mornings at 11 AM!
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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 #snake #herpetology
I’m back.
So you may have noticed that I have been completely absent from social media for the past seven months or so. I am not dead, nor have I stopped loving wildlife or even producing content.
Actually, I’ve just fully embraced my current job as an outdoor educator, and focused my time and energy on providing the best programming possible to my in-person students instead of my online audience.
With that being said, every shred of free time I’ve had has been spent out doing what I love most - exploring new habitats and discovering the amazing wildlife that can be found in them.
Coming soon to The Wild Report are videos featuring the incredible animals that I’ve uncovered on my coastal adventures, with some returning stars from old episodes and also some really exciting never before seen species.
I can’t wait for you to join me on these expeditions as we learn about the birds, herpetofauna, and marine life of the Georgia coastline.
Until next time, stay curious and keep adventuring everywhere!
-Ben Zino
Good to know you were not out action due to an interaction with one of your play things. I enjoy your videos so I hope you supply new content from time to time..
❤👍
The king has returned
I never get a chance to look at markings. I'm 🏃♀️ the other direction
I’m from (and moving back to) North Carolina as well! I am an amateur herp enthusiast and I have recently found your channel and my kiddos and I absolutely love it!! Thank you for your content! Looking forward to more!
That's awesome, excited to have you here!
Glad to see you back Ben. Copperheads are one of my favorite snakes to see.
Thanks, Steven! They are criminally underrated.
Definitely top 3.
Quarter million views in 9 days! Congrats! You have really established yourself on UA-cam! The algorithm recognizes your "CHANNEL AUTHORITY! And of course a grand stand on its own video! Tell me about the snake....how did you find it...I see you have just a twig in hand...just a surprise random encounter? Awesome!
Thanks, Frank! At the end of the day it's not the metrics that matter as much as encountering amazing animals and creating content that I'm proud of, but it is always nice when the algorithm is kind to me. It was an absolute surprise random encounter, I really didn't expect to see a copperhead on this day and was completely unprepared haha.
Seeing copperheads in the wild was fun. Thanks for the video
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
What a good copperhead!! I really hope to see one in the wild someday, they're such pretty animals (and probably my favorite snake ever! I think they look adorable). They really don't deserve the bad rep they get. They're not aggressive or mean, they just want to go about their day peacefully like any other animal.
It was such a good boy. And exactly, if they weren't venomous I would totally boop their snoot haha
We live in North Texas near a great woodsy trail system and went for a night walk last night and spotted five! Just doing their thing, it was fascinating.
Great informative video, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
The kids and I were just talking about you the other day and hoping to see a new video soon ! Glad you’re back and hope school is going well.
I'm excited to be back, and have some really cool species lined up for the channel in the coming weeks!
Very informative video...Many thanks for the education!
Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching!
Congrats on the new job, sounds right up your alley. As always, on point with the info, good looking specimen, too! Good to see you back at it.
Thanks man, the job has been awesome and I'm glad to be back to producing content!
I think your good at giving info in your video. Good luck on not getting bit
Thank you!
Copperhead are very common here in Raleigh, NC. This is best ID explanation I've seen. Big topic of discussion here in warm months.
Glad it was helpful!
If a copperhead bites his tongue will he die from poison? lol
Thanks for the video! Glad to see a new one from your channel. Just watched it with my young sons (2 and 4)and they loved it.
Glad you and your son enjoyed, thanks for watching!
No skip ads. Thanks. It is educational to watch.
Welcome back
Thank you, glad to be back!
Ay, sharkbait, you got another vid! Very interesting and educational! Now I can identify a copperhead snake if I see one.
Thank you, glad that you learned a little more about these guys!
We’ve got copperheads everywhere in Kentucky. I see them on my property all the time. They’re gorgeous snakes.
Just like every other animal, if you leave them alone, they leave you alone.
I am glad to see you posted a new video. I hope you get a chance to post more often.
Same here haha
He seems very peaceful and patient, really not aggressive. Just chillin.
Precisely!
Very helpful! Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Great presentation! I see them a lot here in west Tennessee. They tend to freeze in place when someone or a predator approaches them. Almost ran over one with my bicycle in the park recently because it had stopped right in the middle of the paved bike path and was blended in with fallen leaves.
Thank you! Yeah with copperheads I feel like they either sprint away or just do absolutely nothing haha
Just the right amount of information. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Hey man great to see you bacl been looking forward to your videos I've been having great luck in beaufort County herping
Thank you, glad to hear you've had some herping successes this season!
Thank you for this info
Glad it was helpful!
Very beautiful snake
It was fun meeting you
Awesome video, such a beautiful snake!
Thank you, it was beautiful indeed!
Okay you got me! I just liked and subscribed. Just asked questions on your timber rattler video. Can't wait to view some more of your work. Built my house in a wooded rocky area and see many copperheads. I don't kill them but have had them warn me with a short strike a few times. I try to keep my lawn mowed to help discourage them from hunting by the house. Have seen my cats walk over the top of them without any conflict. I have however, had them act aggressively towards me occasionally. I don't understand the situation that sometimes causes this. Most I see are apr.2' long but I have seen a couple in the 4 'range and very heavy bodied like a timber rattler. Many people don't believe they get this big but I saw one crawl up a skid steerer tire once its tail on the ground and head on top of the tire so I had no problem estimating the length.
Thanks so much for subscribing, welcome to the channel! Glad you are able to (mostly) get along with them, it's interesting to hear that you've observed this kind of behavior, I'd love to hear more about these situations if you are willing to share! Any noticeable seasonality?
Always in late spring or early summer. I uncovered a copperhead when I moved a small Jon boat that was stored on a creek bank. The boat was still on the bank in the weeds and the snake soon had my father-in-law and I standing on top of the boat as it struck repeatedly and came up on the boat with us. It seemed to be territorial and defensive. I probably irritated it when I uncovered it but it was very persistent in its aggressive action. In an effort to not spread misleading information some of the other incidents I had may have actually been banded water snakes that I misidentified as copperheads as they quickly came towards us in an effort to get to sparse washed out tree stumps or into the water. I actually saw one lunge airborne off a tree stump past my buddies head and into the creek.
On a visit to South Padre Island I walked past a light tan colored snake with markings in the sand and sparse scrub brush and returned to get a closer look. I approached cautiously about 3 ft away as I'm not familiar with snakes in that area. This snake did come towards me very quickly and I actually ran to get out of its way. As I turned to look it's still seemed to be pursuing me. My wife had the camera and was laughing too hard to get any video as she has never seen me show any fear towards a snake. She had a better view of the incident as I ran about 30 feet and said the snake appeared to be chasing and lunging at me. I have no idea what kind of snake that was but it is the only time I actually felt like I was being chased buy a snake.
I literally thought about how you hadn't posted in a while today and five minutes later I see this 😂
Haha well get ready for lots of new videos!
what a beautiful copperhead! great to see you my friend!
It was absolutely beautiful, glad to see you too!
Great video!
Thank you!
Copperheads are amazing snakes, I have only ever seen one individual and now I’m dying to find a wild copperhead again. That was quite a calm snake, definitely goes to show that they are not always defensive or prone to bite. These are all solid tips to ID them, the brown/copper coloration can get confusing when Dekay’s brown snakes and Nerodia are present in an area but for the most part I think copperheads are pretty distinct. Nice work with this one man, very nice edit!
Yeah you absolutely must find some more, they are sooo beautiful and I love seeing the different color/patterns of different individuals. Glad you enjoyed!
@@TheWildReportOfficialwh#t
Youare saying you love me I love. One persen myself 🎉
Another feature of copperheads is the eyes, they have vertical pupils instead of round ones and their head is heart shaped.I like the markings on their bodies,hershey kisses, my favorite candy!!
welcome back, I was one of the kids from the 4h camp.
Hi there, welcome to the channel!
That snake was so calm. Living in California, I'm not familiar with Copperheads, so this video is very interesting. On a side note.....if you see Big Bertha this year, please to another video with her. What a big beautiful creature.
Glad you enjoyed! I will definitely film Bertha if I see her!
It's good to respect the copperhead like any pit viper
Absolutely!
love you ben
I'm in Pennsylvania and their known up here
They are everywhere here in Daniel island, SC
Thank you. Your tips help with ID. But seeing size, speed, movement and behavior of real snakes builds familiarity and comfort: be careful when you cannot see but if you can see a copperhead they are easy to just leave them alone.
I'm glad these are helpful, it definitely pays to be aware of your surroundings in potential copperhead habitat with low ground visibility!
I know u. u were from GA 4h center.
im from CS
Hey Ben 👋.Great video. Long time no see. I hope all is well my friend. ❤.Have you ever been bit by a poisonous snake 🐍?
Thanks Walter! I have never been bit by a venomous snake, mostly because I always use proper handling techniques and work with a spotter!
They are beautiful
Big up to the hersey kiss snakes 🐍
Thanks to you and a friend who likes snakes, I am much more tolerant of snakes. Copperheads however I still kill because I can't have them in the yard with the dogs. I know this disappoints you and if I didn't have dogs, I would leave them be. Thank you for your videos and all the snake info.
Those pits on the side of the head also should tell you that it's a pit viper...
I live in Georgia. On the NextDoor app, I keep seeing people near me posting pictures of the "Copperhead" they are proud that they killed. It's almost always a heartbreaking picture of a harmless Water Snake, that was killed for no reason.
I did see a beautiful Copperhead in my front driveway. She was hiding under the base of our basketball hoop. I called the neighbor so his 12 year old son could come over and see her but I didn't bother her. My brother said I should kill her because we have dogs and kids in the neighborhood, but I couldn't. There wasn't anyone available to come out because it was during the dark Covid days.
I hope she's ok, eating chipmunks, and still as pretty as ever!
Aww man yeah that stinks. But I'm glad you have a resident copperhead, that must be so cool!
After hiking one day last year I came back to my campsite which was in East Tennessee(Erwin) and had one come right from underneath my truck and it made its way through my campsite. I had just been getting firewood out of the truck and luckily for once my 4lb dog exhibited some common sense and didnt attack it like she tries to do everything else. It was my first time seeing one and it was beautifully marked and all but disappeared once in got back into the debris of the forest floor.
That is how they are often encountered - simply passing through on their way from one destination to the next. Glad you had a positive experience!
Akistrodon contortrix mokasen the Northern Copperhead and the Akistrodon contortrix phaegastor the Osage Copperhead. Used to be five subspecies of Copperheads now Herpetologist have decided that only two subspecies are recognized. Go figure 🤔
Yeah it's sad, I miss the subspecies :(
When I see snakes they usually take off or act aggressively, then I take off, how come this guy was calm and let you observe him.
Just like people, snakes have personalities, and this one was really chill!
Well it’s kind of a relief copper heads aren’t likely to kill you , because I live near a lake in ga close to Atlanta , and they are everywhere
Yep, they are super common in disturbed systems!
My Great Great Grandfather died one week after bite on hand. 1923.
He wouldn't see a Dr, treating with coal/linseed oil.
Meigs County, Oh.
Thank you friend! Ive caught a wild one and trying to tame it for 2 years now slowly learning her body language. Love the videos you produce
It's not only venom why you should seek medical attention,but also reptiles have really bad bacteria in their mouths ,also baby copperheads often have a bright yellow tail
I had relatives living in the Smoky mountain chain that said the copperhead moved them out said too many snakes!!
Shark bait i wish we could come back 🙏
Copperheads are a good one in my opinion, but not the best. Rattlesnakes just seem to have a lighter taste, a bit flakier, and of coarse much more size generally. I could probably identify each
(When prepared properly)
Don't forget baby copperheads are grey or silver (if not some copperhead babies)
And they have neon tails!
@@TheWildReportOfficial grew up in central Texas country side so I've seen my fair share of them only seen baby ones twice, I own a ball python and learning how to read snakes body language since they are mostly silent creatures
we dissected sharks together
So just to clarify for the viewers, I had a copperhead kill a full grown bull with three strikes
They are pretty snakes.
Yes, absolutely!
Need variation of younger snakes
I have an old video about that on my channel, but am going to make an updated edition soon!
Not me. I know my place and my place is a few feet away from them
They stay away from me or I will introduce them to SMITH AND WESSON.
I understand their needs and as long they respect my space, I promise to respect theirs.
Remember.. Dead Copperhead Snakes are the best Copperhead Snakes.
Except if you're in Australia none these steps are correct
Well yes true
The most feared snake of the great Smoky mountains!
Are they tasty? Asking for a friend.
Obviously you know what you're doing. But the shorts make me cringe for your safety.
Yeah it's all about respecting the snake's body signals and ensuring that I never become complacent while working in close proximity to a hot snake!
It can easily kill a dog or small child.
How to identify a copperhead: poke it with a stick and play with it 😆
I don't recall seeing any actual poking in the video
That's a nice clean adult copperhead, wild copperheads are not that clean. This one has no ticks, no mites, no battle scars its a model. Wild copperheads hang out around leaves and that tail would be rattling against leaves if a human approached them. You don't have to lie to educate.
Akistrodon contortrix paid actor played by the Nerodia sepidon tick free actors union 😆
This is a dangerous and immature video. You are way to close to that snake and people that don’t know how to steer clear of their strike range could do this with a stick and get bitten!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬