Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a friend and i saw these snakes for sale at a reptile show that we could swear were baby eastern milk snakes. the guy called them red milk snakes. is there such a thing or is it that he changed the name because he couldnt sell a local spiece?

and by any chance has anybody had any experience with eastern milks? like as pets?

thanks

Yes, there is such a thing as red milk snakes - Lampropeltis triangulum syspilla. They look similar to eastern milks as hatchligs so I can see how you thought they might be easterns.

I kept some easterns for a short period of time. They are cool snakes, but the pair I had were a little high strung and finicky eaters, so I gave them to a friend. They were adults when I acquired them, so I didn't have the chance to raise them up from hatchlings, which is what I prefer to do. Of course, my experience was very limited with them, I only had one pair for a short period of time. Many people keep them and enjoy working with them.

Dave

DNS Reptiles

I was at a show in NH and there was a vendor selling eastern milks as red milks simply because he knew it was illeagal to sell easterns at the show..J

that is exactly what we thought.

thanks for the posts guys

ya the manchester show. i asked the guy, he said they were "coastals". coastal plains intergrades im guessing, which is a hybrid of an eastern milk and something else. there was another guy there though that had an actual eastern milk, and baby northern waters. apprently you arent allowed to do that, but i bought 2 waters anyway. so, hopefully the government isnt hunting me down right now.

I keep both Eastern Milksnakes and Red Milksnakes and yes they are different species. (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) vs. (Lampropeltis triangulum syspila. As hatchlings they look quite similar.

Eastern and red milks are the same species, but different subspecies (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum and Lampropeltis triangulum syspila, respectively). They are both members of the species Lampropeltis triangulum. These subspecies have a rather broad intergrade zone where their ranges abut. Neonates of both subspecies may look similar, although syspila tend to have a white neck collar. Eastern milks, on the other hand, tend to have an elongated 1st blotch that extends onto the head in the shape of a spear point. This distinction may get blurry near the intergrade zone due to a high degree of gene flow, and becomes more evident further away from it. Animals from NY should not show much evidence of syspila influence.
-Cole

i have 2 wild caught Easterns in my collection. one i caught myself in Bedford County, Virginia and the other was caught by a friend in Luray, Virginia. both are doing fairly well, although the one from Bedford County seems to be a better feeder. i had to scent with 5-lined skink to get him onto pinky mice. he's been eating unscented now for at least a couple years. as far as temperament, both are quite different. the Bedford Co. specimen is very laid back and docile and has been since capture. the other one, however is a little nervous and skittish at times, but not what i would call a mean snake. a friend of mine had one that would coil and strike and try to bite everytime you got near it. just sharing my experience. hope this info is helpful in some way for you. if you get a wild one, you may have to keep it a bit and see what kind of temperament it has. captive-born specimens may be easier to work with.