re: Copperhead Snake Birthing Season Is Here

I lived next door to a county extension agent in Georgia a while back....good dude by the way....and his area of expertise was snakes, for whatever reason. We lived in a development where the lots were .3 - .5 acres....typical subdivision lots. I killed a copperhead in my backyard one evening and mentioned it to him a couple of days later and commented that I was surprised, given the number of dogs, cats, children and activity in the neighborhood that there'd be a copperhead about the place. He told me that in most of the copperheads range there was one on about every other acre!!!!! He said that the population estimates generally accepted by most states were understood to be woefully undercounted.....and that they were specifically well adapted to neighborhoods such as ours with hedges and tree lines and landscaping providing great habitat for mice, rodents and lizards and they were not in the least bit initimadated by household pets and people, with the only threat of cats competing for food in the form of songbirds and mice! It was news to me...


On that same note I knew a man who has since died (of old age, not snake bite) who was bitten by a copperhead and it cost him about $80K!!!! They don't normally kill healthy people but they can cause all sorts of nastiness that will kill you after the fact like decomposing flesh around the wound...that's what happened to this old boy and he almost died from the after effects....and spent $80K in the process.