I was looking at a plastic salad-to-go container on my desk containing four newborn copperhead snakes. A friend, who is an amateur herpetologist and hobbyist, called to say, "My copperhead fell apart!" I did not say he was a comedian. He had them a week and could not get them to eat. I would rather see them in the woods than is a plastic tub, so I said I would take them in.

Live-bearing, copperheads mate in both late fall and spring. Born during the latter part of July and all of August and September, the 4 to 8 young are 7 to 10 inches long with bright yellow tail tips. When threatened the baby will stretch full length and wiggle the tail like a worm. A peck or bite to the tail is less fatal than the head. As an adult the color and pattern of the snake offer excellent camouflage against the dead leaves on the forest floor. It is there he finds the lizards, frogs, toads, small mice, and other snakes that make up his diet.