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My girlfriend lives in central New Hampshire in the mountains and often talks about a snake they commonly see that they call a 'milk adder'. I'm just curious as to what they are talking about as the only type of 'adder' I know of are venomous and wouldn't be found in the mountins of NH. Some online articles I saw mentioned something about it being a form of a milk snake and that it's brown? Just trying to find out anything about what they might be talking about and possibly some pictures. Any help would be appreciated.
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Hello,
Sounds like an Eastern milksnake to me...

Nate

I think what you are talking about is a hognose snake. They have a similar brown spotted back and when they are frightened they flatten their necks out and his. It looks sort of like a cobras neck. Is this sort of what you are talking about?

I have no idea what it actually looks like other than they said it is brown and moves fast. Everyone that talked about them called them "milk adders". A few people said they're 4'-6'. Most milk's don't get that large (referring to 6'), I was wondering if it could be some form of racer? I live in VT and there are very few racers, but they are around and can survive the winter.
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1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Coastal Carpet Python (trying to sell)
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Pythons
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Albino, Severe Reduced Patter, Carrot tail)
1.1 Pugs (Male-Fawn, Female-Black)
Various Fish

hognose snakes are often called death adders/puff adders/spread heads/spreading adders by those colorful mountain folk....but i am pretty sure they are talking about an eastern milk-i have heard people call them checkered adders lots of times...so by 'milk adder',i bet they are reffering to a milk snake.

6 feet may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's not unheard of to encounter a 5 foot plus eastern milksnake in New England. I've only ever seen 2 or 3 up here in Maine, and they were all fairly small. There are some isolated areas (Nantucket Island, for example) where larger specimens are relatively common.

Nate

From several Internet sources:

Noun 1. milk adder - nonvenomous tan and brown king snake with an arrow-shaped occipital spot; southeastern ones have red stripes like coral snakes.

and...

milk snake n. Any of various nonvenomous king snakes of the species Lampropeltis triangulum ranging from the eastern and central United States south to Ecuador, often having red, black, and yellow or white bands. Also called house snake, milk adder.

it's definetly an eastern milk, round here hicks call them spotted adders
wayne

Well after 90% of the people responding saying it's an Eastern Milksnake that's what I'm going to assume it is. Now knowing that it's a milk snake and that they are harmless to humans it saddens me because most of the people I talked to are under the assumption they are poisonous and try to kill them whenever they see them. At least now I can inform them that they are in no harm and it's not necessary to run them over with their lawn mowers. Thanks again to everyone who responded.
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1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Coastal Carpet Python (trying to sell)
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Pythons
1.2 Leopard Geckos (Albino, Severe Reduced Patter, Carrot tail)
1.1 Pugs (Male-Fawn, Female-Black)
Various Fish

good luck convincing them tht they are harmless, I always try and tell people that the water snakes here in NY are not water moccasins and they don't believe me.
wayne