The pit viper family Rattlesnakes are "pit vipers" with heat-detecting pits on their heads. Other U.S. snakes in that family are copperheads and cottonmouths, also called water moccasins.

Herpetologists in China, have shown pit vipers know how much venom they have stored and are more likely to flee if they're low. The snakes use venom to both kill prey and as a defense mechanism.

The pit viper that typically bites the most Americans every year is the copperhead. That’s the bad news. The good news is that copperheads have one of the mildest venoms.

During summer in Louisiana, snakes become more and more active. Here's what to know about venomous copperheads and how to keep them out of yards.

A stock photo shows an African Pit Viper. A similar snake bit a man who had been keeping it as a pet Mark Kostich/Getty Images. Staff at VCU Medical Center in Richmond had already treated the man ...

Scientists found dangerous 2-foot-long snake with venomous bite and discovered a new species: Vang Vieng lance-headed pit viper, study said.

Clamp, Andrews and other experts say do not apply a tourniquet to a pit viper bite (which is something Vuncannon did). That venom is “concentrated, and it works like an acid.

By Forrest Brown, CNN Talk about a heavenly day: The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, temperatures in the low 70s and low humidity. Scott Vuncannon, a 58-year-old real estate developer and ...