It must be longer than it is tall so that there is an appropriate temperature gradient and so your snake has room to stretch out. Your snake’s enclosure must be between 20 and 30 gallons. The better care your snake receives the healthier it will be and the longer it will live. They only reach sexual maturity at 3 to 4 years old The Eastern Milk Snake lives on average between 12 and 20 years. Alternatively, make sure that there are little caves and hollow logs to facilitate the burrowing behavior. This is meant to ward off predators who believe the mimicry and that the bite will be venomous.Įastern Milk Snakes like to burrow so make sure your substrate can accommodate this. If your snake feels threatened it will curl up and “rattle” its tail to mimic the massasauga rattlesnake. Your enclosure should never reach these temperatures therefore, your snake should present diurnal behavior. However, during the hottest parts of the summer months, wild variants will become nocturnal to avoid over-heating. This means that they are most active during the day. Wild Eastern Milk Snakes are mostly diurnal. Be aware that if you get a wild– caught snake then the chances of it being aggressive and striking out are greater than if it was a captive-bred snake. Your Eastern Milk Snake will enjoy appropriate handling. However, juveniles are more nervous snakes and will strike out defensively more often than adults. These snakes are generally mild-mannered and warm up to their handlers quickly. However, the copperhead is generally a lighter tan color and lacks the distinctive black banding. The eastern milk snake is also similar in appearance to the venomous copperhead snake. However, the massasauga’s splotches are irregular in shape and their bodies are thicker. The appearance can seem very similar to the venomous massasauga rattlesnake. It is either a small circle or looks like a U, V, or Y. There is a distinctive light spot of color on the back of the head towards the neck. Its snout is generally lighter or even white in color and has smooth scales. Its belly is a grey to cream color with clusters of darker spots that make a checkered-like pattern.
These splotches of color are ringed in black and lie on a cream/tan/gray/white/yellowish background. If the snake is viewed from the top, it looks like there are solid rings of color around it. There are smaller splotches of the same color along the sides of the snake but do not come up high enough to meld with the dorsal splotches. The Eastern Milk Snake has reddish to tan/brown oval splotches that run down its spine. Young Eastern Milk Snakes can be brighter in color, but it will fade or dull down in time. They differ from most snakes in that the male is often longer than the female and there is no easily discernible sexual dimorphism. AppearanceĮastern Milk Snakes get to about 2 – 4 feet in length and they have quite a uniform girth.
Captive-bred snakes are less likely to carry parasites and owning one does not affect the wild population. We always suggest purchasing your snake from a reputable captive breeder instead of getting a wild-caught specimen. Threats include urbanization, loss of habitat, agricultural machinery, road kills, snake fungal disease, and the pet trade. The Eastern Milk Snake is not endangered just yet however, there are specific areas like Ontario, Canada where they are ranked as Vulnerable. Unfortunately, this means that many innocent milk snakes are killed when they are mistaken for the venomous snake they are mimicking. The Eastern Milk Snake is unique in its different coloration that mimics the venomous copperhead or Massasauga. They would be right most milk snakes have bright red coloration that mimics the coral snakes found in the same area.
Most people associate the milk snake species with bright red banding and hard black lines.
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