1. Is it true that female copperhead snakes love to deposit their eggs in potted plants that are left outdoors at the grower's nursery?
2. I’ve heard that copperhead snakes sometimes leave their eggs in potted plants for the eggs to incubate, and that eventually baby copperhead snakes will hatch and try to emerge from the pot?
3. Will my home become infested with baby copperhead snakes if I bring potted plants indoor?

The answers to these questions are no, no and no. Copperhead snakes do not deposit eggs anywhere because they do not lay eggs; they are a viviparous snake species. In viviparous snakes, the embryos develop inside the body of the mother and she will then give birth to small baby snakes.

Potted baby copperhead snake
The idea that female copperhead snakes are particularly prone to lay eggs in potted plants has spread like a whirlwind over the Internet thanks to an e-mail that tells the story of how a women found baby copperhead snakes in a potted plant. The e-mail has been made even more enticing by the inclusion of several pictures that allegedly show baby copperhead snakes inside a pot.

The e-mail contains a story written in first person and is typically called “ Warning to plant lovers ” or “ Baby copperhead snakes discovered in a potted plant ”. Unlike many other urban legends that contains a story about something that happened to a girl in my school/a friend of my cousin in North Carolina/a guy who works in a grocery store in my home town, this letter is written in first person. The narrator tells us how she (or possibly he) almost had a heart attack this week, and continues by telling us how she received a potted plant from her son on her birthday. She states how she kept it in her kitchen until this week, since she had to wait until it was warm enough to plant it outside.

The woman than proceeds by telling us how she to her shock and surprise found no less than two baby copperhead snakes in the pot. Upon closer inspection, the woman and her son discover a piece of card board between the plastic planting pot and the decorative glass container in which it was placed. They think hat a female Copperhead snake must have deposited eggs in the cardboard at the grower's nursery, and that those eggs have hatched later. The e-mail warms the reader never to bring plants inside their house, since flower pots might contain baby copperhead snake. The e-mail also scolds plant growers for not being more careful when they pot plants. 

The e-mail tells a thrilling story and is accompanied by several pictures so it is not hard to understand why this e-mail has been forwarded by thousands of Internet users. As explained above, it is however impossible for a Copperhead snake to deposit eggs in cardboard used to line flower pots, since Copperheads give birth to baby copperhead snakes an a way similar to that of a mammal. The small snakes on the pictures also seem to lack the characteristic rusty hourglass-shaped markings and the yellow tail sported by the baby copperhead snake.

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