I watched a National Goegraphic special last night. several scientists went out and found copperheads, cotton mouths and rattle snakes and tried to entice them to bite. they even made a fake arm equiped with sleeve and glove for picking up the snakes.
they concluded that the copperheads and cottonmouths reputation was more folklore than fact. 2/3 of the cotton mouths they caught would not strike, even when picked up. their theory was the snake was afraid to break a fang.
I'm not going to go picking up snakes any time soon. but I thought it was a very interesting show. watch for the re-run.
BTW the rattlesnakes reputation as aggressinve stayed in tact. it was the quickest to bite and not afraid to bite more than once.
