Eastern Milk Snake

Once a week, my family and some friends go to a nature reserve, called Westmorland Sanctuary, to have a nature class. This week's nature class was on bird banding. Although we have attended this class countless times, we always have fun. This time, though, we helped catch the birds in the net. With four birds in separate bird bags, we hiked back up to the place where we were going to band them. On the way, the boys found a milk snake under a piece of tin roofing set there for that purpose (among others). Our teacher picked the snake up. As one might imagine, the snake began every defense mechanism it possessed. First, it pooed, and sprayed it everywhere by flicking it's body and tail. In a predator vs. prey situation, this would result in foul tasting poo in the animal's mouth and eyes, and hopefully it would release it's prey. Another mechanism, which our particular snake also displayed, was rattling it's tail, much like a rattle snake, just on a far smaller scale. Finally, when the snake was empty, and was tired of rattling, it realized that it had the chance of escape, since we weren't trying to hurt it. Anyone who wanted to hold it, could. Our teacher then told us a little about milk snakes. First, he reminded us that the milk snake, although closely resembling the venomous Northern Copperhead, was not in anyway harmful, except for a bite that felt like sand paper to human skin. And yes, the snake did try to bite everyone who held it. Though somewhat disconserting at first, both the snake and we warmed up to eachother and holding got much easier. The snake was less squirmy in people whose hands were warm than in those that were cooler. Next, we learned that the milk snake is named because, way back when, farmers thought that it milked their cows. This wives tale is completely untrue; the snake eats only mice, small rodents, eggs and will sometimes use constriction to kill larger prey.

The milk snake lives in woods, meadows, river bottoms, farms and cities, and may be found all over the eastern U.S. These snakes were hated by farmers when they were beleived to milk cows; however, now they are appreciated by farmers and most everybody else, because of their active rodent eating habits.

Here is a picture: