Search This Blog

Monday, July 20, 2009

Eastern Milk Snake

I was helping a friend with some vehicle maintenance this weekend. He lives in the country. We needed a piece of wood for leverage, and when he went to the wood pile, he uncovered this little fellow.

It turns out that it's an Eastern Milk Snake. These guys are beneficial to us - when little, they eat insects, slugs and that sort of critter. When they get larger, they eat mice, which is better than having mice chew on your electric wiring!

It was a warm day, so this little guy was very active and it was hard to get a photo of him. Over about 10 minutes, he wiggled and squirmed and did everything in his power to get away, including trying to bite me. I say 'trying' because his tiny teeth were too small to break my skin! I felt a bit sorry for disturbing him for so long, so once I got his portrait, I put him back in the wood pile, safe and sound.

Good hunting buddy!

Here is some more information on the snakes of New York.

8 comments:

  1. Glad someone else is holding Milkey the snake and NOT me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He's BEAUTIFUL! What lovely markings. So glad to hear that he's back, safe and sound, in the wood pile.

    ReplyDelete
  3. He's a beauty but rather you than me hold him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like snakes but my husband do not... I want to have a snake but then my husband told me he would not stay... so no snake.
    MB

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is so bizarre. I found a beautiful snake (his colors and patterns are striking) in my laundry room tonight and have spent the past hour trying to idenify him through pictures online. I finally figured out that he is an eastern milk snake. I decided to research his background and found your site. The strange coincidence is that I live north of Atlanta, Ga. but am originally from Schenectady, N.Y. and a graduate from Niskayuna H.S. Now how funny is that! I too am going to put my little friend back out into the woods now that I have enjoyed finding out who he is and what he does!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Serendipity! It's a small world, and the internet is bringing us closer together. Thanks so much for your note! Comments make blogging fun for me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think I found a corn snake but it looks like a eastern milk. I live in Moore OK

    ReplyDelete

The spammers have struck. Due to this I will be moderating all comments. Sorry for the hassle, but it's the only choice because I refuse to turn on word verification.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin