Pit vipers are the Southeast's most plentiful snakes | ECOVIEWS

Last week, I answered a question about coral snakes. In this column, I discuss the largest group of venomous snakes found in the Southeast — pit vipers.

The Southeast is home to copperheads, cottonmouths and three kinds of rattlesnakes, all of which are found in parts of every coastal state from Louisiana to North Carolina.

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Each species is distinctive in behavior, habitat and venom capabilities, but all have one common characteristic, a heat-sensitive pit located on the side of the head between the eye and the nostril. A pit viper uses the pit in total darkness to detect the presence of warm-blooded prey, such as mice or rats, and to strike that prey with unerring accuracy.

The pit viper that typically bites the most Americans every year is the copperhead. That’s the bad news. The good news is that copperheads have one of the mildest venoms. According to one study, drop for drop the venom is only a tenth as potent as that of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

As far as I am aware, despite bites by copperheads to thousands of people over the years, few have died from the bite of a wild copperhead. The bite usually causes minimal damage to the victim; nonetheless, a trip to the hospital or doctor’s office is advisable.

Though copperheads are quite abundant in some localities, their presence often goes unnoticed because of their body coloration. Dark brown crossbands on a lighter brown background provide effective camouflage when a snake is coiled on ground cover composed of fallen leaves.

At least two harmless snakes, banded watersnakes and corn snakes, are often mistaken for copperheads because of similar banding and coloration. Only copperheads have crossbands that resemble the shape of an hourglass, with the narrow part being along the midline of the snake’s back.

Copperheads are common in the mountains and many coastal areas but can show up anywhere within their extensive geographic range. Interestingly, the species is absent from all of the Florida peninsula and most of the panhandle.

Cottonmouths are the copperhead's closest relatives and by far the most common venomous U.S. snake associated with water. A cottonmouth bite can be serious, but the snake’s aggressiveness is overrated. Many bites from cottonmouths occur after someone has picked the snake up. Most of the cottonmouth bites I know of have been to herpetologists who did just that. Hard to blame the snake for defending itself.

Of the three Southeastern rattlesnakes, the smallest is the pygmy; a large one is only 2 feet long. The biggest rattlesnake is the eastern diamondback, which can reach lengths of almost 8 feet. The third species, called canebrake rattler in the Coastal Plain and timber rattler in the mountains as well as most other regions, can be more than 6 feet long.

What are the chances that an adult hiker, hunter or other nature enthusiast will be bitten by a pit viper? Slim. And what about children? Also slim, but with a caveat. Children should be taught not to touch any snake without supervision by a knowledgeable adult. They should learn to enjoy snakes by watching them.

Of course, the same advice applies to adults. The majority of U.S. snakebites occur because the victim picked up the snake or tried to kill it. People who merely observe snakes from a safe distance (a few feet away) don't get bitten. And considering the small proportion of Southeastern snakes that are venomous, if you do encounter one, the odds are about 10 to 1 you need not be concerned.

How can you identify Southeastern pit vipers? "Snakes of the Eastern United States" (University of Georgia Press) has numerous color photographs of all Southeastern snakes and is the most authoritative nature guide on the topic.

What should you do if someone is bitten? Here’s the advice given for snakebite victims: “The best snakebite kit is a set of car keys, a cellphone, and a companion” to get you to the hospital.

Whit Gibbons is professor of zoology and senior biologist at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. If you have an environmental question or comment, email [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Pit vipers are the Southeast's most plentiful snakes | ECOVIEWS