Amazing Facts on Milk Snakes
Here are some facts on this amazing snake.
There are 25 subspecies among the milk snakes, including the commonly named scarlet kingsnake (L. t. elapsoides).
They are oviparous, laying an average of about 10 eggs per clutch, although that number may vary by region.
The subspecies have strikingly different appearance, and many of them have their own common names.
They are distributed from southeastern Canada to western Ecuador and northern Venezuela.
The milk snakes grow 20 to 60 inches (50-152 cm) long.
The typical color pattern of milk snakes is alternating bands of red-black-yellow or white-black-red.
Red blotches instead of bands are seen in some populations.
They have smooth and shiny scales.
They have no eyelids and instead have a transparent covering that rests over their eyes called brilles to protect their eyes from dust and dirt. The brilles give them a “glassy-eyed” blank appearance.
Milksnakes typically live around twelve years.
Typically, milksnakes live in forested regions, however, in some regions they can be located in open prairies.
In various parts of across its distribution, milksnakes often abide in rocky slopes.
Milksnakes activity is mostly nocturnal. They are primarily terrestrial, except the scarlet kingsnake sometimes takes shelter under the bark of standing dead pine trees.
Young milksnakes typically eat slugs, insects, and earthworms.
Adult milksnake’s diet frequently includes lizards (especially skinks), snakes, and small mammals. They are also known to eat birds and their eggs, frogs, fish, and other snakes.
Like other members of the king snake family, the milk snakes sometimes eat other snakes, and do have at least some immunity to their venom.
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Tags: birds, pine trees, snakes, trees