‹ Compare two snakes
Broad-banded Copperhead vs Eastern Copperhead
Tap a part to see it on both. Tap it again to turn it off.
(c) Tom Field, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Broad-banded Copperhead
Agkistrodon laticinctus
Venomous(c) Court Harding, some rights reserved (CC BY)
Eastern Copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix
VenomousThe quick way to tell
Look at the bands from above. The Broad-banded's stay wide across the back. The Eastern's pinch to a thin waist over the spine.
Pattern ★ This settles it
Wide dark crossbands that stay about the same width all the way across the back.
Dark hourglass bands - wide at the sides, pinched to a narrow waist over the spine.
Head
Coppery, unmarked, triangular head clearly wider than the neck.
Plain coppery triangular head with no stripes or blotches, clearly wider than the neck.
Eyes
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Vertical slit pupil; heat-sensing pit between eye and nostril.
Pits
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
A deep heat-sensing pit on each side of the face, between the eye and the nostril.
Tail
Plain; young have a bright yellow tail tip.
Plain; young have a bright yellow tail tip.
What it does
Freezes and relies on camouflage; may vibrate its tail.
Freezes rather than fleeing - which is why people step on them.
Where it lives
South-central US: central and west Texas, central Oklahoma and south-central Kansas, south into northern Mexico.
Eastern US from Massachusetts and New York south to the Florida panhandle, west to Iowa, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas.