A medium-sized non-venomous snake with striking red, black, and white banding — often killed in mistaken belief it's a coral snake (no coral snakes occur in most of its range). Famous for the myth that they drink milk from cows (they don't).
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum, commonly known as the eastern milk snake or eastern milksnake, is a subspecies of the milk snake. The nonvenomous, colubrid snake is indigenous to eastern and central North America.
Source: Wikipedia — Eastern milk snake Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Slender snake with distinctive bright red-orange "saddles" or bands bordered with black on a pale gray or tan background; checkered black-and-white belly.
Similar species. Coral Snake (venomous; very different head shape; red touches yellow, not black). Eastern Corn Snake (red blotches without black borders).
Voice. Hisses defensively; sometimes vibrates tail.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Rodents, small birds, eggs, smaller snakes (including venomous species — immune to most pit viper venoms), lizards. Kills by constriction.
Behavior. Common myth: that milk snakes drink milk from cows. False — the myth originated because milk snakes are often found in barns and dairies (where they hunt the rodents attracted to grain). Anatomically, a snake cannot drink from a cow. Colorful pattern mimics the venomous Coral Snake in regions where Coral Snakes occur: red-and-black bands are key. The folk rhyme "Red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, friend of Jack" works in the US but NOT in Central or South America.
§ Range
Eastern and central US, southern Canada
§ Habitat
Diverse: fields, woodlands, rocky outcrops, barns
§ Threats
Persecution from mistaken identification, vehicle strikes, habitat loss.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the eastern milk snake is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Learn snake identification. Maintain hedgerows and barns. Don't kill non-venomous snakes.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Eastern milk snake
- www.nwf.org — authoritative profile of Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum
- IUCN Red List · taxon 63840
- iNaturalist · taxon 29581
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum
§ Sources cited
- Davidson College Department of Biology
- Virginia Herpetological Society
- iNaturalist
- IUCN Red List 2007
