Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everybody, This is my first post on this forum.

A couple of months ago I found a newly hatched milksnake in my front yard. It is doing great and has tripled in size in just a couple of months. I keep it in a small aquarium in the garage as my wife isn't too crazy about snakes and we have lots of other critters inside that would love to make a meal of it. I feed it lizards and tree frogs. As I live in West Central Fl, it is pretty warm in the garage and I haven't provided any heat source.
My question is: With cooler weather coming, (below 70 at night) can I just stop feeding this snake until spring, or what should I do to induce some sort of hibernation. The temp will get into the 40's on some nights in the garage. The daytime temp is almost always above 70. What would this snake do in the wild? The snake has to stay in the garage. Thanks in advance. Bob

I would consider releasing it.I say this because in the summer the temp in your garage during the real hot weather has to get to lethal levels for the snake.
Bianca

The snake absolutly thrived in the heat. It is the cool temps that concern me. It doesn't get above 90 in there and cooler at night. We'd like to keep it. It eats very well, is non-aggressive and the kids like it a lot. Just wondering if I should stop feeding it altogether for the next few months or still offer food if it is warm out. Bob

I have seen snakes in Miamis winters when temps were over 70 during the day.So they dont "sleep" during the whole winter.
Since you cant control the temp like you could with a heating pad,etc.You could simply continue feeding untill the weather drops down for consecutive days.Just go by the weather on the news if you have a cool spell coming dont feed untill it gets warmer.The snake can go without food but to have it get cool and its food doesnt digest is a problem.
I imagine you could feed easily till maybe for a few weeks in Jan/Feb.
Bianca

just curious...what kind of milk snake is it? do you have any pictures?

Greg

A guy who lives 30 miles from me e-mailed me and told me they're aren't any milksnakes anywhere near where I live. The owner of a pet shop told me the same thing. When I found this baby snake, it looked exactly like every picture I've seen of a common milk snake. (off white with red blotches and red eyes) Now that it has grown quite a bit, it has become a darker grey and you can barely see the red blotches except for on the underside. Don't have a digital camera but some time I'll borrow one and post it's pic, and maybe someone can positively ID it for me. Bob

could it be a Baird's Rat snake, possibly???

Where can I see a picture of one of those and I'll let yo know?

does your snake look anything like this?

(copy and paste this link in your browser)
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RQDKAuwUO9wn0sm242G43Ys2d*ycCUWvDZayW0gM7r3YwYj3tqsaTxh5b9JRAFeqHkDSYKlM9N38nXiKeX4znrHhaof7YNqFMoUbaDfytaM/baird.JPG?dc=4675442389884486558

No that's not it but looking through all the photos of king, milk, rat and corn snakes, I'd almost bet my life it's an Eastern Milk Snake. The pictures of the baby on pg. 9 and 10 are identical to what my snake looked like when I first found it. Maybe the range books need to be rewritten!