The copperhead as mentioned previously has a red, copper-colored head, but the rest of its body is shaded differently. The body is pinkish to gray-brown with a dark chestnut colored hourglass shaped pattern on the body. This pattern is narrow on top of the back and wider on portions of the side of the body. Like other venomous snakes, the copperhead has facial pits between its nostrils and eyes, and elliptical pupils. The copperhead is not, like many other venomous snakes, a rattlesnake.
On average, a copperhead snake is 24 to 36 inches long; an average weight has not been determined. The oldest reported copperhead in the wild was 30 years old. The average life span is much less; according to studies, only five percent live to be older than eight years of age.
Five subspecies of copperhead have been identified in the United States; only two are found east of the Mississippi River. The Northern copperhead is the only subspecies found in Ohio. It also ranges from Massachusetts and Connecticut southward on the Piedmont and highlands to Georgia, Alabama, and northeast Mississippi. Its range continues west through southern Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley to Illinois. In Ohio its range is basically limited to the unglaciated (southeast) portion of the state. Locally, the home range for a female copperhead is eight acres and 24 acres for a male.
More Copperhead Snake Pictures: