Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Common Watersnake

Common Watersnakes are killed as 'copperheads' more often than any other snake; they meet in eastern Kansas and Oklahoma (records share 14 one-degree squares). A: A broad head with a heat pit between the eye and the nostril in the Broad-banded Copperhead; a narrower head with no pit in the Common Watersnake. B: The same broad bands from neck to tail in the Broad-banded Copperhead; crossbands near the head that break into alternating blotches toward the tail in the Common Watersnake. C: Vertical, cat-like in the Broad-banded Copperhead; round in the Common Watersnake. D: Young: a bright yellow or greenish tail tip in the Broad-banded Copperhead; young: bold dark blotches and no bright tail tip in the Common Watersnake. The copperhead is venomous: leave it alone.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

More comparisons

• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Eastern Copperhead
• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Northern Cottonmouth
• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Diamondback Watersnake
• Broad-banded Copperhead vs. Banded Watersnake
• Eastern Copperhead vs. Common Watersnake
• Common Watersnake vs. Diamondback Watersnake
• Common Watersnake vs. Plain-bellied Watersnake
• Kirtland's Snake vs. Common Watersnake
• Queensnake vs. Common Watersnake
• Northern Cottonmouth vs. Common Watersnake
• Mississippi Green Watersnake vs. Common Watersnake
• Graham's Crawfish Snake vs. Common Watersnake
• Banded Watersnake vs. Common Watersnake
• Glossy Swampsnake vs. Common Watersnake
• Brown Watersnake vs. Common Watersnake

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