If you want to write about a snake in Missouri, you should write about copperheads as they are THE most common But, if you want to write about something more exotic, there was a story (probably an old wives' tale) that a "box of cobras" from a circus train (or something like that) passing through Springfeld, Missouri, got loose and the city was in a panic for a while. Happened in the late 50s or early 60s.

-From an Ozark, Missouri resident!