This is what a copperhead looks like. Beautiful in color and markings, it is also strikingly dangerous. It's diet includes small rodents, birds, insects, and lizards.
This is the Eastern Milk Snake. It is harmless to people. It is, unfortunately, also mistaken for the copperhead at times. I put the pictures together so you could see the differences of the snakes. Note that this snake has rings of color while the copperhead has more like splotches of color. The Milk Snake's diet includes small rodents, birds, lizards and other snakes, including venomous ones.
This is a map of the range of the Eastern Milk Snake, which is the entire state of Ohio. Please keep this in mind should you run into a snake that you are not sure about. One is venomous and one isn't. The Milk Snake, you should remember, not only eats rats and mice, saving your home from expensive structural and electrical damage, but also eats other snakes. If you have a Milk Snake around, you probably don't have any venomous snakes in the area.
When I go out into the public this summer, I want to help educate people on this aspect of snakes. Snakes are good for the environment. While many people are afraid of them, keep in mind that they are just as afraid of you. If you come across a snake, simply back slowly away from them. They are not going to chase you. They want away from you, too. They have a right to be here. Don't kill them just because one crosses your path. Try to remember, if you have a snake in your area, you probably do not have mice or rats. I have known wild rats to climb up in bed with you at night and bite you in your own home. Snakes protect you from that.
And always remember, if you find a snake and want it removed in the Columbiana County Ohio area, please call me and I will come and take it away, relocating it out in the wild where it won't bother any one. Snakes are important to the environment and to us. Let's protect them.
I can be reached at 330-385-4380 or my email is firstname.lastname@example.org