Reptile & Amphibian Forums

"wild caught eastern milk female, 24 inches long, captured in southern tier new york near pennsylvania border"

well i finally caught a eastern milksnake this year and i decided to keep her for the simple reason that she is very docile and should be of breeding size next year. she is currently 24 inches long. ive been wanting a local eastern for about 3 years now but have yet to find one that was worthy of keeping. i also decided not to keep another one i found under the same tin the next day, he was a massive 42 inch male with a prolapsed hemipenis and he sounded like he was weezing.

my question is what to feed her, i have tried frozen thawed pinks and fuzzies and a live pink hampster. i know she would never encounter a hampster but my local pet store did not have any pink mice. their are no lizards in the wild near me their are salamanders, frogs, toads, garters, redbellys, ringnecks moles, voles and mice. are all of these part of their diet are they strictly opportunistic or are some choices better than others. she defecated and their appeared to be no hair or bone remnants so i dont think she ate any rodents as of lately. it almost occured to me that maybe she had been eating worms? we have huge nightcrawlers around here. care sheets and info on wild caught easterns seem to all have differant info. but i chaulk that up to differant locals.
any help would be appreciated.
it has only been a few days so im not worried she probaly just needs time to adjust. i will continue to search and read thankyou
adam jeffery

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hybrid breeders association
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle

You could offer it hybrid snakes!!
OK, seriously, the snake is more used to terrestrial snakes, small live rodents, and I'd guess skinks when possible. Offer live tiny pinks (with a pinch of stinky bedding) overnight in the hide or very close. I'd also consider force feeding a fat mouse tail at some point if she's not taking the live pinks in the next 4-6 weeks.
This has been done before and they usually will take thawed.
Jeff

thanx jeff,
but no, no hybrid bigmac x whoppers have been created yet.
maybe ill work on that next season
adam
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hybrid breeders association
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle

Some of the wild caught eastern milks i have found ate very well and others had to be released cause they didn't eat. Release it if its not a good eater or it may die in a year, find a good eater.
Many guys that keep milk snakes have to keep mice too so they have live pinkies. My male was a great feeder but the female was not. Out of the clutch from this pair only one of the babies would eat FT pinkies the others wanted live pinks or would not eat at all. This pair is also from New York (Putnam Co ).

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Doug
....and am I the only one here that thinks designer snakes are ugly ?

Ok I just could not pass it up.

i also recently caught an eastern milk, and first i tried a hopper mouse and it pretty much just jumped on the snakes head and scared it. yesterday i put a fuzzy in the cage and the snake doesnt give 2 sh#%s about it. do they only eat pinkies and not fuzzies or something? i have a sand boa. what if i like rubbed the mouse on the boa, would that make it more appealing? im pretty sure its a female and 2.5 ft long. she might be shedding soon, would that have an affect on it? and how old is a snake of that size? a couple years old maybe?

thanks

Many wild caught eastern milks do not adapt to captivity. There are a few things you can do to have a better chance of getting the snake to eat: 1) Do not handle the snake. 2) Give the snake time (1 to 2 weeks) to settle into the captive situation. 3) Offer the snake smaller food items that you would a Cal king of equal size. Adult eastern milks seem to prefer pinky rats. 4) Feed the snake in the evening and leave the food item in to cage overnight.

I have caught and kept many eastern milks (back when it was legal to do so in Ohio) and have found that they're one of the worst rodent-eating constrictor snakes in the USA to attempt to acclimate to captivity.

Tim

Tim's suggestions are very good.
To them I would add:
make sure your cage has many hiding places and the live pinks or fuzzies are at the far end so the snake "hunts" them at night and they are not "in it's face".

Finally,,,,,
The easterns I caught and successfully kept as a kid in Northern NJ (Sussex County) in the 60's would not initially eat house mice.
I ran a mouse trap line in the forest and trapped and froze deer mice (white-footed mice).
They ate these F/T immediately. 2 or 3 feedings on "wild" mice and the started eating house mice.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

At what tempertures are you guys finding these milksnakes? Seems like it got too hot in lower New York about a week ago.

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Doug
....and am I the only one here that thinks designer snakes are ugly ?

it did get really hot down here about 96 for a few days, the day i got mine it was about 80 that day but it was around 1030 am so it was probaly around 70-75 when i caught the snake.
-----
hybrid breeders association
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle

i caught mine when it was about 80 or so. it was basking with another one with a little more than half its body exposed, its head was under a rock though. i hear milk snakes dont bask, but i often see certain ones out in the open on rocks in the middle of the day when its sunny and in the 80s. also, when i put a heat lamp on over the tank its in it will often come out from its hide and bask, at least part of its body.

the temperature in my cage is usualy 80ish during the day and 75 or so at night. should it be different than that?

thanks