Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There have been a number of discussions on here about L. triangulum eating (or not eating) Diadophis puntatus, the Ringneck Snake. A friend of mine posted an interesting observation on another forum, in which he flipped a rock sheltering a L. t. syspila in the process of eating a D. punctatus. Check it out: Milk eating Ringneck

I know Doug L. has fed Diadophis to milks before. Anyone else have observations they can share?

-Cole

Thanks for the post!

You know that poor syspila actually spit out the ringneck because it realized that it was being poisoned.........sorry, I couldn't resist!
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1.2 Peruvian rainbow boas (Amaru, Asiru, Kulipsa)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Chakar, Hari, Saksak)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.4.4 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

LOL!!, I just knew when I saw your post below this topic, that you were going to "run" with it in Jeff's honor!

HAHAA!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I'm a bad bad person.

But seriously, it's very interesting to see first hand reports of what these guys are actually eating in the wild. Much better than armchair declamations.....
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1.2 Peruvian rainbow boas (Amaru, Asiru, Kulipsa)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Chakar, Hari, Saksak)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.4.4 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

While it has been documented before its always my contention that its more likely a case of mistaken identity or aggression than predation. If they were on milks' regular menu than they wouldnt be found so commonly together. It could be that this milk either hadnt tried ringneck before, it smelled like a lizard, or invaded its spot under the rock. Lots of possibilities.

Yes, like you said Jeff, "lots of possibilities".

Another one being that when people find milks typically together once in a while with ringneck's, when these folks flip something and observe a milk with....say two ringnecks under the same cover, who is to say there wasn't actually three ringneck's in there several days earlier, and the milk already consumed one and is lying there digesting the meal until it decides to eat another one of the ringnecks later on..LOL!

I really don't see why it is so impossible to figure that they are indeed consumed by Eastern's and other snakes on a fairly steady basis, even though they might "prefer" other species when given the choice.

I find it hard to believe the dude found one being consumed by a triangulum for the sole reason you gave of the milk being pissed-off that the ringneck was sharing the same hangout. I don't think that hols much "water".

Some people claim they have fed cornsnakes crickets too, but I would be willing to bet they would certainly prefer a lizard or something else before the cricket, but the fact remains they have been known and documented to eat them in the past. That pic is pretty strong proof that is virtually impossible to sweep under the rug in my opinion.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

As you constantly point out Doug, a broken clock is right twice a day. I bet milks have eaten crickets too.... I never said they didnt eat ringnecks, I said they werent on the menu. There is likely a very good reason for this, and you have heard my hypothsis. I know experiments should be done with other prey snakes side by side.....green, brown, earth and red belly snakes are always prefferred over ringnecks and are never found with them. There are exceptions to every rule but I still find it foolhardy for anyone to intentionally feed ringnecks to their milks. Err on the side of caution, dont pretend to be something that you arent,etc....

"dont pretend to be something that you arent,etc...."

HUH??
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Now you're going to second-guess the milk's intentions when it started eating that ringneck?? LOL!!

Actually, from everything that I've seen being said about the interactions between Lampropeltines and ringnecks here and elsewhere, it really doesn't seem all that hard to figure out the likely general scenarios:

1. milksnake much bigger than ringneck: milksnake eats ringneck
2. milksnake and ringneck roughly same size: found under same rock
3. milksnake smaller than ringneck: milksnake in danger of being eaten

That's just a rough guesstimate, of course, and may interact with the timeline for the development of the ringneck's venom (no, Jeff, NOT poison). I believe that some snake species are born with their venom glands already functioning, but I don't know whether all are or not.

As for being "on the menu" -- the snake ate it, so.....maybe in the a la carte section?
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1.2 Peruvian rainbow boas (Amaru, Asiru, Kulipsa)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Chakar, Hari, Saksak)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.4.4 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I have GOT to get me a bunch of ringnecks and throw them into milk cage....one milk...try and feed it ringnecks all the time and see what happens....

...I have always been told they were poisonous not venomous...in the skin?...no idea...I never tasted one....yet....

I know my cousin ran a boy scout camp for awhile and yes there was a dead ,eaten ringneck sticking out of another run over snake's gut...I forget if it was a milk or racer...one of each was run over that year and I forget which had the ringneck....

....so......next summer I will tell my buddy to start fetching me ringnecks.....which sucks...I have milks and try to feed corns they do not eat them all the time...some may never eat them, I don't look at cards...and I have right now 2 chessy eastern kings...now you know kings eat snakes....well...tell the one on the right to eat that snow corn that's been in there for like aweek now....it's bugging me.....(one on left ate it's corn baby, I think)....

.....never had a cal king eat a snake...and I tried more than once....

Ringnecks...it's what's or dinner...
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........JY

.....never had a cal king eat a snake...and I tried more than once....

Ha ha ha! I said the same thing until I came across my current disposal... He'll eat ANYTHING. Literally.

-Cole

Yeah, not much doubt in my mind that Certain Cal. king individual's will readily scarf-down a snake in a heartbeat..LOL!

I have seen many pics of them devouring rattlesnake's too with just the rattle hanging out of their mouths.

Which also reminds me........there was a lady that owned a local pet store that I used to sell snake's too once in a while, and she had a good-sized Cal. king get loose in the store. Well, it was discovered by some people at the store front window one morning just before the store opened there on the window sill eating a Ball python that got loose earlier.

Apparently they really SUCKED BIG-TIME at being able to keep their snakes in their cages, because when I sold them an anery Hondo hatchling a while back, the next day the lady found it in the bathroom sinks overflow hole and luckily managed to catch it when she closed the door and turned the light back off for a while.........geeez!, how many freakin times does it have to happen before they start seeing an obvious pattern of carelessness and stupidity there..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>...I have always been told they were poisonous not venomous...in the skin?...no idea...I never tasted one....yet....

They *are* venomous, to varying degrees. Apparently, the western ringnecks are much more venomous than the eastern ones. Nobody has YET presented any info supporting Jeff's ongoing claims about poisonousness, though.
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1.2 Peruvian rainbow boas (Amaru, Asiru, Kulipsa)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)
1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Chakar, Hari, Saksak)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)
0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)
2.4.4 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

Jeffy will just have any posts that make him look like an idiot deleted...which is 99%
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Scott MacLeod
2.6 Snow Hondurans
1.1 Aberrant Snow Hondurans
2.4 Aberrant Hondurans
1.3 Aberrant Tangerine Hondurans
1.2 Aberrant Hypo Hondurans
0.1 Aberrant Hybino Honduran
1.3 Extreme Hypo VP
1.1 Tricolor Hypo VP
0.1 Hypo E Sinaloan
1.0 Het Hypo E & Amel Sinaloan
0.1 Amel het Hypo E and Splotched
1.1 Albino Striped Sinaloan
2.7 Striped Splotched Sinaloan
1.2 Poss Het T pos Sinaloan
1.2 T pos Sinaloan