Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My daughter and I recently caught a baby milk snake. It is only about 5-6 inches long and a bit thinner then a pencil. I have read the archived forums and everyone mentions pinky mice, or pinky "hambuger". Some mention skinks or mouse tails.

I have had many snakes for pets before, and kept them without incident before releasing them. If the milk snake does not eat we will release it soon - but I promised my daughter we would give it a try for a week or two.

I am not too fond of the idea of dicing up baby mice so here is my question. What do these snakes eat in the wide when they are this small? I am quite sure that momma milk snake is not bringing home mouse hamburger or mouse tails.

I'd like to try the natural route until the snake is big enough to eat pinky mice. If that does not work, so be it and we will release it.

Just a note - we live in northern New England - so we don't see to many skinks....

We appreciate any advice you may have.

I live in Connecticut and i also caught a large eastern milk snake about 2 and a half feet long. It hasnt eaten since i caught it, which was about a month ago. I have tried everything from baby mice to baby birds. My friend caught a milk snake aroudn the same time i did and his has eaten fuzzy mice from the start. I dont know maybe its just the snakes differant personalities. But I did do a lot of research on what they would eat in the wild and i found that they eat anythign from field mice, which are much smaller then the mice at pet stores, baby birds, bird eggs, moles, shrews, and possibly even worms at the length that you are talking about. My friend has had great success with the baby birds and bird eggs althouh i think that may be a little too big for your snake. So i dont know what else to tell you but good luck.

Thanks for all the advice. We have only had the snake for two days. I put a small thawed pinky on a small section of garter snake shedded skin. Was not sure the snake would be able to eat it given the size of the snake (5-6". Woke up this morning and the pinky was gone. Snake is doing fine.