DNS Reptiles

Subtitle

Eastern Milk Snakes - Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum

Eastern milks were my first love as far as snakes go.  I can remember being about 10 years old looking through my Audubon Field guide gazing at pictures of North American milk snakes and being fascinated by all of them, but specifically eastern milk snakes.  Growing up in Buffalo, New York, I was in the eastern milk's range and tried like crazy to find them with little success.  Luckily I never gave up on my search and now have built a nice collection of these amazing creatures. Eastern milks will always have a place in my collection given my fascination with them as a child. 

Many people don't realize how beautiful eastern milks really are. While some may be brown on a tan background, there are plenty of brilliantly colored animals as well - they are just so variable.  You can see examples of how variable this species can be by looking at my collection.  The variety makes this species very interesting and fun to work with. 

 

Tpositive albino eastern milk snakes

A friend of mine purchased a hatchling pair of eastern milks he found from online classified ads. The male was Tpositive albino and the female was a visual normal.  The person he purchased them from said they were found together under the same board and said they were Maryland locality, but of course, wouldn't disclose the specific location.  So we have no way of knowing the exact locality of these animals, but that's ok with me.

My friend raised the hatchling pair to young adults and then sold them to me.  I was fortunate enough to produce the first clutch from this pair in 2015. Of the three fertile eggs that year, to my surprise, two of the three hatchlings were Tpositive albino!!  This must mean that the visual normal female is het for Tpositive albino and likely a sibling of the Tpositive albino male she was found with. 

Adult Tpositive albino male

Het Tpositive albino female

2015 Het and Tpositive albino hatchlings


Male Tpositive albino

Female Tpositive albino


Here is the pair together in August 2018.

2010 Het Female

This female is the matriarch to the group. This picture was taken September 2019. She has grown into quite an impressive eastern milk snake!

2015 Female

2015 Male

2015 Het Tpositive Eastern Milk Snake

2016 Female Tpositive

This photograph was taken August 2018.

These photographs were taken March 2018.

This photograph was taken spring 2017.

2018 Hatchlings

2018a Holdback female

This picture was taken September 2019.

These pictures were taken in summer of 2018.

2018b Holdback female

These pictures were taken September 2019.

Mystery Eastern Milk

This male was sent to me in 2016 by Frank Morrissey on breeding loan. We're not sure exactly what it is.  It appears to be hypomelanistic as it has ruby red eyes and an obvious reduction in dark pigment.  What I'm not sure of is whether this hypo trait is making the blotches pink or if it is also anerythristic.  I suppose time will tell after several breeding trials and raising up the babies to then breed back to each other and their parents. 

Believe it or not, Frank obtained this animal as a hatchling while he was working at a pet store. A woman brought the snake in to the pet store and said she found it in her basement.  Frank gladly took the snake off her hands and raised it up to adulthood. The snake was found near Cape Cod, Mass. 


Wilkes County NC Eastern Milks

Ryan Ferrell and I caught a nice adult female in May of 2015 in Wilkes County, NC. This female is caught and possessed under NC Permit # 13-AR00429.

Female

Male 

I caught this male in 2015. He is caught and possessed under NC Permit # 13-AR00429.


2016 Holdbacks

Male
Female 

Ashe County NC Eastern milks

I caught a sub adult female on a trip up to Ashe County, NC in 2014.  I also caught an adult male the following spring. These animals are caught and possessed under NC Permit # 13-AR00429.

These pictures were taken May 2018:

Female

Male 

Photo taken August 2016.

Photo taken April 2015.

Male 

 

NC Foothills Eastern Milks

Michael Coone and I have discovered a really interesting population of eastern milks in the foothills of the NC mountains. They are anything but the classic, text book eastern milk. They are banded, including the nuchal band, with no lateral blotches.  We plan to study these and learn more about why they have evolved to look this way in this part of the eastern milk's range. I caught this male (Male 1) and he is possessed under NC Permit # 13-AR00429. Its hard to capture with a photo, but the light band in his triads are yellow.

Male 1

Male 2