Copperhead

Agkistrodon contortrix

Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)
Photo by Yinan Li · CC BY-NC 4.0
Description

How to Identify

Heavy-bodied with a copper-colored head and dark hourglass-shaped crossbands that are narrow across the back.

Size

Usually 24-36 inches.

Diet

Mostly mice and other small mammals; also frogs, lizards, birds, insects, and small snakes.

Habitat

Forests, rocky slopes, stream edges, wood piles, and suburban woodland edges.

Images
Location

Where it is found

Found statewide in North Carolina, except generally absent from the Outer Banks.

North Carolina regional range for Copperhead Highlighted official regions: Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plain. Regional guidance is not a county-level occurrence record. Mountains Piedmont Coastal Plain
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