Milk snakes and garters.

[Bart]

How often do milk snakes eat garters? Do garters have any strategy to avoid being eaten? Do adult milks eat adult garters? Do they compete for food resources? I like such threads, so let's go.

[Stefan-A]

Flight response to Lampropeltis scent.

[Bart]

Any source?

[Stefan-A]

Rossman et al.

edit: I seem to have the original article in my library.
Weldon, P.J. (1982). Responses to Ophiophagous Snakes by Snakes of the Genus Thamnophis. Copeia, 4, 788-794.

It's mentioned there as a personal observation.

[infernalis]

I have found several milks and garters hiding together, One night I flipped over a board, there was 2 milks and a garter snake, next morning one of the milks had recently fed, and the garter snake was gone, however I cannot confirm that the milk ate the garter, The bulge in the milk indicated a strong MAYBE, as it was a long slender bulge unlike that of a rodent (feeding) bulge.

[Bart]

I can't help myself - the garter is like: hurrrrrrr, me not edible. I'm always suprised how many faces they have... Cute, evil, and so on.

Anyway - I'm wondering, Wayne - do corns occur in your area? I mean, my Nefri looks just like those milk snakes. Anery to be specific? Thanks in advance.

[infernalis]

I can't help myself - the garter is like: hurrrrrrr, me not edible. I'm always suprised how many faces they have... Cute, evil, and so on.

Anyway - I'm wondering, Wayne - do corns occur in your area? I mean, my Nefri looks just like those milk snakes. Anery to be specific? Thanks in advance.

No, Corns only exist in private collections around here. no naturally occurring wild specimens out there.

[Stefan-A]

Other presumably defensive tactics exhibited by crotaline snakes to snake predators are escape (Bogert, 1941), biting (Cowles, 1938; Klauber, 1972; Meade, 1940), head-hiding in coils (Carpenter and Gillingham, 1975; Cowles, 1938), "freezing" (R. F. Inger, pers. comm.), and, in some young snakes, body flips (Carpenter and Gillingham, 1975). Marchisin (1980) provided a detailed inventory of the responses of seven crotaline species to ophiophagous snakes.

From that same article. I marked a few key words that might be relevant.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

the times i do find wild thamnophis and lampropeltis under the same board or rock, they are not "cuddling" together... they are separate. This might indicate that the garter snake purposely avoids coming too close to the milk snake, or that they both slithered under the rock from separate entrances and did not even realize they are only inches apart!

[EasternGirl]

Very interesting thread...in what states can you find milk snakes?