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“The broad-banded copperhead (A. laticinctus) is a medium-sized pit viper with an average adult size of 56–76 cm and a maximum size of 95 cm (Gloyd & Conant, 1990; Conant & Collins,1991)”
According to that information the snake I have would likely be well over the reported maximum size for the western copperhead, Agkistrodon laticinctus, which now contains the former pictigaster subspecies. It does not specifically state that 95 cm is the "record" but maybe that’s just semantics. According to my last measurement, my Trans-Pecos Copperhead, Agkistrodon contotrix pictigaster which recently turned into a Western Copperhead, Agkistrodon laticinctus would be roughly 106 cm and would be a new species record length if in fact the standing record is 95 cm. However I was measuring snout to tip of the tail, not snout to vent and wasn’t trying to be exact so I’ll have to re-measure. I was unable to find any information on record length for this species in the Herpetology Notes and I do not own a copy of Ernst and Ernst – if anyone else does or has any information on this topic please chime in or PM me. I was questioning if captive animals would be disqualified from record lengths but this one was wild caught so it is 100% wild blood if that matters. I collected the snake myself as a juvenile, probably a yearling in June 1998 in Brewster County Texas. Thank you again Alexander, I will take some pictures and work on submitting a note to Herp Review if it looks like a valid record.
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