Editing Austrelaps (section)

==Behaviour==
Copperheads are [[diurnal animal|diurnal]] at most times of year, but switch to night hunting in hot weather.

===Diet===
Copperheads are very much at home in the water; they swim well and often hunt tadpoles. They are generalised carnivores and will take any suitably-sized prey, including their own young, but the major diet item is [[frog]]s. Where frogs are common, so too are copperheads, and other snakes tend to be rare.

===Breeding===
Breeding starts in spring, and females give birth in late summer to about 14 live young, each a little under {{convert|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} long.

===Venom===
Like all elapids (members of the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Elapidae]]), Australian copperheads have hollow, fixed fangs mounted at the front of the jaw. They are shy and retiring by nature, and prefer to escape rather than fight where escape is possible.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lowland Copperhead Snake |url=https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/wildlife-management/fauna-of-tasmania/reptiles-and-frogs/tasmanian-snakes/lowland-copperhead-snake |website=Wildlife Management |publisher=Tasmanian Government |accessdate=2020-10-12 |archive-date=2020-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811014417/https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/wildlife-management/fauna-of-tasmania/reptiles-and-frogs/tasmanian-snakes/lowland-copperhead-snake |url-status=dead }}</ref> Their venom is, by Australian standards, only moderately toxic (equal on a per-mg basis to that of the [[Indian cobra]]). Nevertheless, they deliver a substantial quantity of venom, and a copperhead bite left untreated can easily kill a healthy adult human. There is no specific copperhead antivenom, but [[tiger snake]] antivenom is effective.