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Eastern copperhead

Agkistrodon contortrix · Snakes · Reptiles

Eastern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix): Reddish-brown body with tan, copper and rich brown crossbands. Solid brown head. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Agkistrodon contortrix
Family
Viperidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern New England to northern Florida, west through the southern Great Lakes states and southern Iowa to southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas. Not a Canadian species.
Biology

How to identify it

Reddish-brown body with tan, copper and rich brown crossbands. [1][2]

Solid brown head. [1][2]

Adults average about 76 cm. [1][2]

Juveniles greyer with a yellow-tinted tail tip until about age 3-4. [1][2]

Compared with the water snakes and cottonmouth: Animal Diversity Web notes they resemble copperheads but differ in pattern and behaviour. [1][2]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a eastern copperhead before you act. Compared with the water snakes and cottonmouth: Animal Diversity Web notes they resemble copperheads but differ in pattern and behaviour.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Deciduous forest with rock outcrops, floodplains and swamp edges; often with rocks, logs, stumps or leaf litter as cover. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal in spring and fall, mostly nocturnal in summer [1][2]

Active about April to October/November in the north; hibernates communally in rocky dens or burrows [1][2]

Sit-and-wait feeder on small mammals, snakes, lizards, amphibians, insects and small birds [1][2]

May migrate several hundred metres between winter den and summer range [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southern New England to northern Florida, west through the southern Great Lakes states and southern Iowa to southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas. Not a Canadian species.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology