Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do ya call this one guys? The normal is shown for contrast. Besides the fact that the color is way off, he has none of the normal dots that a northern has between the saddles. The only part of him thats the right color is his head and even it is a lil lighter than most....

Ugly normal or is something different going on with this guy?

At first glance, he looks a bit melanistic....but on the other hand, he could just be a "drabber than normal" copperhead. How long have you had him? It might be interesting to see how his color changes as he gets older (although he looks pretty adult already). He just looks darker than normal to me....(without alot of "coppery" colors typical of northerns).

-Kris

I have not had him long but, he is a rather large copperhead for this area. He was WC about a week ago. He was laying curled up with a very normal looking male when I found him. I needed another copperhead like a hole in the head but, he was so strange looking I brought him home anyway. Ah well, It will be interesting to see how his babies turn out next year.

My first thought was axanthic but I guess the "copper" head blows that.

Looks to me like (most likely)a tendency towards melanism, or posibly Aneryistic (like the Florida Red rats that still show some traces of yellow and brown).

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

You know. I actually found an almost jet black S. copper DOR near Society Hill, SC about four years ago. No markings whatsoever except for the head was still lighter than the rest of the body. i wonder if this is a trend with Copperhead color morphs.

where did you find him? what state and topography? chris