West Virginia Venomous Snakes

It is a rare person who does not have strong feelings about snakes. A few find them fascinating, but most seem to think they are repulsive. As might be expected, the former study them at every opportunity, while the latter shudder with fear any time the subject is raised.

I have never really been bothered by snakes. Growing up in West Virginia and spending a lot of time in the mountains, I have heard the cautionary statement “watch out for snakes” countless times. But to be honest with you, I don’t watch for snakes when I am in the mountains. I mean, I won’t step on one but I don’t waste all my time worrying about crossing a snakes path. It is a rare occurrence for me to have a run-in with a snake. In the last 3 years of very regular trips to the mountains I have had zero encounters with West Virginia’s poisonous snakes and only a couple of encounters with the non poisonous varieties.

That is not to say that everyone that camps and hikes in our mountains will have the same luck. So we arrive at the purpose for this post… not to gross you out but to make you aware and familiar with West Virginia’s venomous snakes, the Northern Copperhead and the Timber Rattler. They belong to the group of snakes known as Pit Vipers.

The Northern Copperhead
The copperhead is best described as a buff-colored snake with hourglass red-brown markings over the back and down the sides, with the hourglass being narrow on the back and widest on the sides. This pattern is useful in separating copperheads from water snakes, because the latter has markings that are wider on the middle of the back than on the sides. Milk snakes are reddish-brown and somewhat similar to copperheads, but the pattern is one of rounded blotches. Average length for a copperhead is between 30-40 inches, although the record length is 53 inches.

Copperheads are found throughout West Virginia. They prefer rocky hillsides and woods, finding shelter under rocks and bark, but they have been found in city gardens, sawdust piles, haystacks, under lumber piles and around barns and buildings. They give birth to from 1 to 14 young at a time. The young are from 7 to 10 inches long with a yellow tip on the tail. They will strike from birth and are dangerous. Copperhead bites, although painful, rarely pose a serious threat to life.

The Timber Rattler
Timber rattlesnakes are so called because of the rattles attached to the tail. When a young rattlesnake sheds its first skin, it leaves a remnant at the end of the tail which forms a rounded triangular “button.” Each subsequent shedding leaves a rattle segment at the tail base. As a healthy snake sheds two and sometimes three times each warm season, the number of rattles does not give a reliable measure of the age of the snake and also, the rattles are attached rather loosely and easily pulled or worn off. A disturbed rattlesnake will often rattle, a sound caused by nervous vibrations of the tail, but it may strike without warning. One should also remember that many nonpoisonous snakes vibrate their tails when disturbed and so in dry leaves a completely harmless snake may produce a sound suggestive of a rattlesnake rattling.

The timber rattlesnake is normally found in remote brushy and mountainous terrain. However, individual snakes may be found in nearly any habitat in the state. Timber rattlers have a dirty yellow to olive background color on which irregular dark brown to black chevron-markings extend across the back and down the sides. The dark phase of this rattlesnake has a dark brown color, and the back crossbands have lighter-colored margins. Maximum length is about 6 feet. The 8 to 10 young, each from 10 to 13 inches long are poisonous, and born alive in early fall. The bite of a timber rattlesnake is more serious than that of a copperhead, although,
they too, are rarely fatal.
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Some info obtained from wvdnr.gov