They’re only really found in the panhandle, while each of the other species lives all across the state. Although they are venomous, they’re the least venomous of all pit vipers, and their bite stands little chance of causing serious health problems.Ĭopperheads have the most limited range in Florida.

If you approach one, you might not realize that you’re frightening it.

This is a problem both for the snake and the person that finds them because it makes it more likely that they’ll get scared and bite you. Unlike many other snakes, it freezes if disturbed. This is a behavior they learned that’s termed ‘Batesian mimicry,’ which means that they’re copying an even scarier predator to make other animals scared of them.Ĭopperheads are an ambush predator that usually avoids humans. They also don’t have a rattle, although they’ll still rattle their tail, as if they’re pretending. This and their low-contrast, dusty brown color makes camouflage easy for them. The copperhead is named after its bright rusty-red head. This attacks your nervous system, stopping your lungs and heart from working. They’re quite docile snakes, hardly ever biting people, and only rarely using venom when they do.īut if they do decide to bite, they use a neurotoxin. The fangs are positioned at the front of the mouth, just like rattlesnakes, but they’re significantly shorter (at a quarter of an inch long). Not only that, but they don’t have the long and dangerous fangs that rattlesnakes and other pit vipers do. Coral snakes are quite small and short, only reaching 30 inches at most.

It’s the origin of the old rhyme, “Red next to black, safe from attack red next to yellow, you’re a dead fellow.” There are plenty of variants, but the point is always the same.Ĭoral snake venom is exceptionally dangerous-although the snakes themselves are very placid. The yellow bands only touch the black bands. In coral snakes, the thin yellow bands touch the red bands.The eastern coral snake is the one with red, black and yellow stripes.

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