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Natural Heritage
• Snakes & Such of the Ozarks |
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| Snakes & Such Index • Cottonmouth • Horsehair Snake Natural Heritage Index • Fishing • Hunting • Camping • Conservation • Bass Pro Blog • Hills & Hollows • Rivers & Lakes • Springs • Caves • Rocks & Fossils • Trees & Shrubs • Plants & Herbs • Hill Critters • Flyin' Critters • Water Critters • Snakes & Such • Forgotten Critters |
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Snakes certainly get all the notoriety. As long as there are copperheads and water moccasins in the Ozarks, these reptiles will be associated with the dangerous side of the hills.
However, this section isn’t just about snakes. It is here to provide specific data, stories, folklore, photos and art regarding lizards, scorpions, tarantulas, and more.
An Ozark Critter List:
Cottonmouth (Water Moccasin) Agkistrodon piscivorus
Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix
Blue-tailed Skink Cryptoblepharus eageriae
Whip Scorpions Mastigoproctus giganteus
American Tarantula Dugesiella hentzi
Brown Recluse Loxosceles reclusa
Black Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans
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Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)
Length: 2—4.5 feet
What to look for: back copper, orange, or pinkish, with bold red-brown crossbands, often narrowing at center of back; plain-colored head; pit in front of and just below the eye; vertical pupils.
Habitat: rock outcrops and ravines in forests; edges of swamps and floodplains.
— page 179, Wernett, Susan J., et al. North American Wildlife. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986.
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Copperheads on the James
We do have the hills there and those copperheads love those hills.
It’s not a good idea to pick up the rocks or poke around the brushpiles. We cut a lot of wood on the farm and those wood piles? They really love that.
The bluff side of the river is cool — it's on the north side. It's pretty good for snakes too.
You just learn to look before you step, before you go digging for something. If you have your canoe turned over, you learn to stand, reach over and turn it right side up, away from you.
My dad, as a kid, was running barefoot in the orchard and was bitten on the toe by a copperhead.
He was okay, though.
— John Tilden, Reeds Spring, Missouri
Note from the editor:
John Tilden, the fifth-generation to grow up on the family farm near Galena, is a humble and very talented young man.
A gifted Christian songwriter, it was an honor to simply sit and visit about his views of the Ozarks and family recollections. You may now find several of these recollections throughout the site.
— Joshua Heston