Reptile & Amphibian Forums

between a milk, corn, rat, and kingsnake. they al look about the same too me. Im assuming size is the main difference between them and location where they are found.

Go buy yourself a good snake book, there you will begin to understand the many differences.

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

They are completly different unless you are one of these hillbilly southerners who kill any snake they see because they are snakes. You know the old saying.."any snake is a bad snake"

Seriously there are major differences. Best thing is but one of each and raise them up. Sounds like you are at the beginnings of starting a huge collection.

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ÌÏËÙÍ ËÁÂE!

Very simplified - Corns are pretty much rat snakes. For many years they were called Red Ratsnakes. Why it was changed beats me. Corns and ratsnakes have a distinct neck and angular heads.

Kings and Milks are very similar, they both are Lampropelts, which technically would make all milksnakes - kings, but not visa versa.

Kings and milks tend to be more heavily bodied then corns/rats. They also have thick, almost indistinguishable necks and rounder heads. Kings especially will feed on other snakes (hence the name kingsnakes). Pretty much aside from the Eastern Milk they all have the red, black and white pattern- or a variation of it.

The care for most all them is very similar, excepting a few.

Hopefully thats pretty accurate.
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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

Also, kings and milks (genus Lampropeltis), which have glossy, smooth scales tend to be more ground-dwelling than some rat snakes (genus Elaphe), many species of which can be good climbers and sometimes exhibit glossy, weakly keeled scales.

Strangely enough, breeders have figured out how to "trick" male snakes to breed across not just their species, but across their genus! That is, there exist in the captive-bred snake trade hybrids of kingsnakes and rat snakes. An example is a California kingsnake crossed with a red rat (corn) snake to produce what is called a "jungle" corn. Some people love these hybrids, others are more interested in keeping captive bred lines more or less "pure" and don't approve of such pairings.

In any case, snakes are fascinating. Read, learn, and have lots of fun! Below is a Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri, or Nuevo Leon kingsnake.