Venomous

copperhead ( contortrix ) cottonmouth ( )

timber ( horridus ) eastern ( catenatus )

Is it poisonous or venomous? Learn to identify, and avoid these Found in heavily timbered areas There is a difference. snakes when possible. with river bluffs and rock outcrops in Copperheads have a light tan or the southern one-fourth of the state, poisonous plant or rusty ground color and 10-20 darker the lower and river causes harm if touched or brown, hourglass-shaped crossbands valleys and a few other locations is the consumed. Venomous that are narrow on the back and widen . These stout-bod - organisms inject a toxin to on the sides. Locally abundant in wood - ied snakes are gray to light yellow to subdue their prey, as is ed, rocky hillsides in the southern one- greenish-white, with 20-25 black, dAone by the hollow fangs of the four third of Illinois, south of Route 16, and jagged bands, and sometimes a rusty of pit vipers found in Illinois— in the lower Illinois River valley, cop - stripe down the back. A dark stripe is copperhead ( ), perheads prefer upland forests or bluffs behind each eye. Timber cottonmouth ( Agkistrodon piscivorus ), with limestone or sandstone outcrop - are listed as threatened in Illinois. timber rattlesnake ( Crotalus horridus ) pings. Prairie wetlands, wet oldfields and and eastern massasauga ( Sistrurus cate - The stout-bodied cottonmouth is river floodplains in Madison, Clinton, natus ). The pit is a large opening relatively abundant in swamps, sloughs Piatt, Knox, Warren, Will, Cook and between the eye and nostril used to and wet bottomlands in extreme south - counties provide habitat for the detect heat emitted by their prey. Ven - ern Illinois, south of Illinois Route 13. state-endangered Eastern massas - omous snakes in Illinois also have an Young snakes have 12-18 dark cross - auga . The smallest venomous in elliptical pupil. bands on a brown or dark-brown back, Illinois, are light brown to Venomous snakes are not aggressive and a wide, dark stripe from the nose gray and have 29-40 light-edged brown and tend to bite people only when through the eye and upper lip. Older or black spots down their back and stepped on, picked up or cornered. adults are dark olive or black. When three rows of smaller blotches along threatened, cottonmouths open their each side. A small rattle is at the end of 20 / Outdoor Illinois March 2010 mouth, displaying a whitish lining. the tail.