Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In the Fall, I will have the opportunity to visit in extreme N.E. Texas: Mount Pleasant, which looks to be Titus County.I'd love to find Copperheads; that'd be a first for me. Anybody know the area? Will I be looking for A. contortrix, laticinctus or intergrades? Suitable habitat there might include...?
Muchas Gracias to you Lone Star Herpers out there.
Bill

In that area, copperheads are one of the easiest snakes to find. The subspecies is contortrix, the Southern Copperhead. Just try to find a wooded area that isn't a sterile planted pine plantation, and you should find some copperheads.

Shane
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Lifelist

Thanks Shane. That's encouraging. And contortrix is the most splendid subspecies I think. Can't wait!
Bill

Bill, from Mt.Pleasant take hwy 271 towards Pittsburg. Between Pittsburg and Gilmer there is a truck stop which is a Conoco. Across from Conoco there is a small oil top road. Follow that road for two to three miles or so.This road has produced many large coppers and cottonmouths.When the road gets very rocky and rough you are in a the creek bottom area. There is only one hitch; it needs to rain for that area to produce. I have seen very large southerns there and they are usually pretty light colored.Hope this helps.
Barry

Oh, and when you cross the RR tracks stay to the left.You can take this road until you see a 2 lane highway with a cemetary on one corner. I would turn around and cruise the same road back to hwy271.

Good Luck!!

Thanks Barry, for the detailed infomation. Youre kinda putting me on "front street"...armed with specific info like this, if I get skunked, its me, not the area. I'll post the results regardless.
Bill

Bill, any of the small farm to market roads off of hwy271 between Pittsburg and a small town called Bettie to the South should be good. If you see a snake that looks like it stretches across the entire FM road it will likely be our sometimes fiesty
TX.Rat Snake Elaphe.O. "Lindheimeri" or Chicken snake that some of the locals call them in E.Texas. If the frogs are hopping on that particular road I told you about, I would concentrate on that road exclusively.
be safe
Barry

My pulse rate just went up...I'm there!

Yeah, I would def. check out the spot woodsrider mentioned...Last time he told me about a spot, I found a copper in about 2 minutes haha.

Not only should they be there in numbers, but the fall is the best time of year for Copperheads in East Texas. I haven't ever hunted northeast TX much, but further south around the pineywoods of SE and EC Texas, they are downright abundant on roads at night in the fall. The trick is to find something other than copperheads!

As it gets cooler in the fall, I used to find lots of copperheads under pine bark slabs around rotting pine stumps (not on the stump, but under the slabs around the base). It was a very predicatible way to find them in early November days when other snakes were fewer and far between.

You can also find coralsnakes on quiet sandy roads in September and particularly October in east TX. They are often found on the roads during daylight hours, but they haul butt off the road when you approach.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas