Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've always wondered something, and I was hoping someone here could help me. Ok, we all know that kingsnakes and milksnakes have a tolerance to their native pit-viper venoms. This is evident in the fact that eastern kings, desert kings, californias, etc occasionally include rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths in their diet. It is also said that, when the opportunity presents itself, milks located in the south/central american areas, (for example, the black milksnake) will eat their native pit-viper species. Now, would an eastern king be immune to the venom of and capable of eating a fer-de-lance, and a black milk capable of eating a copperhead with no adverse affects? I recall one guy who fed his mussurana (immune to local pit-viper venom and eats a lot of bothrops) a rattler. I'd really like to experiement and see if it's safe, but I don't want to risk the lives of my black milks, and I don't have any bothrops on hand to feed to a king, (not that I want to endanger the life of a kingsnake either!). Any input?

BTW... who would win, and black milk or an eastern king? Sorry, couldn't help it!

i don't have any input as far as the venom question but as far as who would win the black Milk eastern "battle" black milks i find are better snakes, I'm a huge milk fan, but i think the eastern would be more open to eating the milk. I've heard that milks are cannibals like their king relatives but i haven't seen it. i have had one of my kings eat another thou. so if your comparison is based strictly on preference then i believe the black milk may win the "election" (LOL)... but to go head to head the, the eastern will more than likely be the victor
~ZF

The eastern king. They're called kings for a reason. If matched properly by size, I'd put my money on about any king. Pound for pound, they are the strongest snakes in proportion to their size. The black milk would be a quick and easy snack....just my opinion.

Brandon Osborne

I read a study once and in this study all the subspecies of Getula were injected with all the native Crotalids venoms & S. American Crotalid venoms. Suprisingly the Getula found in areas with many different types of Rattlers and Kin didnt show a very wide immunity. In fact the Cal King was only immune to like 3 or 4 of the Crotalids found out west. On the other end Eastern and Florida Kings showed immunity to just about everything including the Fer de Lance. I always thought that was odd as Getula from the Eastern US arent subjected to as many different types of Crotalids like the Western froms of Getula are. This also proves my point in that Easterns and Florida Kings are just simply bad asses ! lol

Keith

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Hey Keith is that picture you just previously posted of 3 snakes? It looks like there's 1 coiling 1 and then another coiling the one coiling the other. And as for the king/milk vote, I definitely would go for the kings. Exactly. They are called kings for a reason. Unless they are facing something larger than it's proportion, nothing is any match. They enjoy eating other snakes.

>>Hey Keith is that picture you just previously posted of 3 snakes? It looks like there's 1 coiling 1 and then another coiling the one coiling the other. And as for the king/milk vote, I definitely would go for the kings. Exactly. They are called kings for a reason. Unless they are facing something larger than it's proportion, nothing is any match. They enjoy eating other snakes.
>>
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I've been looking for a study on this for a LONG time! You wouldn't happen to remember who/when/where it was published do you?
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Ace

No I had or have a synopsis of the research somewhere. Ill look for it.

Keith
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and they are about the same size.

I don't think the black milks are really snake eaters to any degree. Mine don't seem to show any response to the smell of other snakes at all, yet the respond to rodents like they haven't been fed in 6 months.

My easterns freak out whenever the smell another snake on a hook, in a plastic sweaterbox (when I weigh them) etc. The black milks are strong and have a powerful feeding response but wouldn't show any interest in an equal sized eastern king, IMHO.

Frankly, I think my easterns would be a little hesitant to take on a big snake like the black milks as well, but they would certainly grab hold of them first to find out!
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Chris Harrison