By admin 
It’s time for a new generation of copperheads in South Carolina.
Just about now and continuing through the fall, female copperheads are giving birth to sometimes as many as a dozen offspring. They carry eggs inside their bodies until the babies hatch, then they disperse.
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So watch your step when walking through leaves because they are even harder to see than the adults.
Copperhead snakes
Copperheads are brown with an hourglass-shaped pattern and coppery-tan head like the adults, but they are about the size of a pencil — 6 to 10 inches — and when they are curled up are about the size of a silver dollar.
A distinguishing feature of the babies is the sulfur yellow colored caudal lure at the tail that they use to attract prey. It looks like a worm and turns brown within a couple of years.
Baby copperheads do have less venom than adults, but they are still dangerous. They are most active from the late afternoon into the evening.
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How to keep snakes away
Mallory Maher, Natural Resources Extension associate at Clemson University, said the way to keep snakes away is to not make it easy on them.
- Don’t pile up brush.
- Snakes like firewood stacks. Keep stacks away from your house. Rodents like that stuff, too, and guess who eats rodents?
- “You cannot blame a snake for moving into a perfect habitat where all its needs are met,” she said.
- Here’s how to keep them out of your yard.
- Cut your grass short.
- Rake up leaves.
- Clean up branches.
- Pick up toys.
- Be careful around lawn furniture. They like to take advantage of the shade.
- Wear gloves when doing yard work.
How to deal with copperheads
Wildlife biologists have some advice for how to deal with any copperhead babies or adults.
Leave them alone. They’ll go about their business soon enough, looking for insects, rats and mice. They also eat baby cottontails, swamp rabbits, other snakes, lizards, baby turtles, frogs, toads, grasshoppers and cicadas.
And don’t pick them up.
Remember you probably walk by snakes more often than you see them.
If you really want them gone, call an expert. Copperhead bites are the most common in the United States.
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