I have a funny story about a copperhead snake. An Aussie one at least. Yes they are poisonous.
Like all elapids (members of the
family Elapidae), Australian copperheads have hollow, fixed fangs mounted at the front of the jaw. They are shy and retiring by nature, and prefer to escape rather than fight where escape is possible, and their venom is,
by Australian standards, only moderately toxic (equal on a per-mg basis to that of the
Indian cobra). Nevertheless, they deliver a substantial quantity of venom, and a copperhead bite left untreated can easily kill a healthy adult human. There is no specific copperhead antivenom; however,
tiger snake antivenom is effective.
Lol, by Australian Standards, well we do have a few nasties over here, you just sort of get used to them
When I was about I dunno, 17 or 18 I was walking down an old mountain, dead volcano actually near my old home. I crossed the road and climbed a small embankment and my foot slipped dislodged a heap of dirt bugger me if a bloody snake didn't slide out of the rubble to my feet.. Well it was only a baby, about a foot and a half long, and being color blind and no expert on snakes, for some stupid reason I thought it a brilliant idea to grab it and take it home. (I wasn't a real smart kid obviously) Treating it something like a 300 foot Dragon I managed to get it into my backpack. Must have been school holidays because by the time dad got home from work I had it in an old fish tank with an old fish light at head of my bed to keep it warm.
Well dad took one look and after a near heart attack pointed out that it was a copperhead and quit poisones.
Anyway, skip forward now, my pet snake that started out about a foot and a half long eventually way to big for my 3 foot ish tank. Ans besides, do you have any idea how hard it is to find little lizards and things to feed a bloody snake.
And being a bit of a softie I always felt sorry for the lizards. Anyway I made the epic decision to take my now not so little snake out the bush and let it loose. I grabbed the tank, chucked it on the back seat of my old Chrysler and headed for the bush to set it free. However, about 2 km out of town I came across about 50 bloody sheep on the road, I slowed down and tried to go through them, till one ran in front and I had to jam on the brakes.
The fish tank on the back seat, slid forward, hit the floor and smashed. I was now sharing my car with a live snake.
I don't know if you have ever tried to drive a stick shift while trying to Velcro your self to the roof lining but let me say it was not easy. Anyway, to conclude, after I cleared the sheep I decided no matter how hard I tried just cant drive my while remaining outside of it like Mr Bean
So I gave in and spent the next 30 mins trying to coax my snake out of the car and into a paddock.
In the end victory was mine but the bloody snake had the cheek to have a go at me after all the lizards I had fed it.
Moral of the story, don't try to keep dangerous snakes as pets.