Limb Loppers 1, Copperhead 0 First, some fun facts about
Copperheads. • The copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), which
has five subspecies, is one of the most widespread venomous
snakes in the United States. Its venom is relatively mild,
however. A person bitten by a copperhead may not even be treated
with antivenin, which carries risks of its own. (In the United
States, snakebite fatalities are rare. Each year, about 8,000
Americans are bitten by venomous snakes; only about a dozen die.
It's wise to keep a distance from venomous snakes, however, as
even dead ones have been known to bite reflexively.) I don't
know about you, but the prospect of a having a festering goose
egg size wound any where on my body for months on end is enough
incentive to keep away from these things! • Like the rattlesnake
and the cottonmouth, the copperhead is a pit viper. In front of
each eye, these snakes have a small, deep depression, or facial
pit—a heat-sensing organ used to locate warm-blooded prey. Of
some 20 venomous snakes i