Reproduction
Northern Copperhead Snakes reach sexual maturity at four years. They mate from late August through October and late February through April. During these mating periods, male Copperhead Snakes can find sexually active females by detecting pheromones in the air using their tongue. Once mating, the male and female align their bodies together. This may last for an hour depending on the response of the female to the male. After this, the female arches and lifts her tail, and a scale covering the cloaca is lifted. The male also arches his tail and body, and one of two hemipenes everts from the snake's tail. Once this happens the snakes mate. Mating time can reach from 3 hours to 8! These long times can be because females only choose one mate per year, so they want the best possible mating partner. While looking to mate, males release a pheromone into the air that makes females unattractive to other males. This allows the snake to mate with the female without having to compete with other male snakes. When breeding in Autumn, females store sperm until the end of their hibernation. They give birth to live young, producing 2-10 young (larger females have larger amount of young). There is no direct care to the young from the mother after birth. Go check out the Video page for a cool video on copperhead snake reproduction.
Development
When Northern Copperhead Snakes are young, they are much smaller and slimmer and the tip of their tail is yellow. The gestation period for Copperhead Snakes is 3 to 9 months. They reach sexual maturity at four years. At four years, they are about 2 feet in length. Their life expectancy is up to 18 years. They have 2-10 offspring at one time. Their is no parental care of the young. Their fangs can grow to only .3 inches. The average length for an adult Copperhead Snake is 30 inches.