Trying to catch a milksnake

[GarterGeek]

I've been trying to catch an eastern milksnake (lampropeltis triangulum triangulum), without success for a while now. I've mostly been digging around junk piles; flipping boards and tarps over. I've seen plenty of garters but nothing else...

Does anybody have any tips? It's been a very rainy spring, could that have anything to do with my bad luck? Am I searching in the right places? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank You!

[Zephyr]

I've been trying to catch an eastern milksnake (lampropeltis triangulum triangulum), without success for a while now. I've mostly been digging around junk piles; flipping boards and tarps over. I've seen plenty of garters but nothing else...

Does anybody have any tips? It's been a very rainy spring, could that have anything to do with my bad luck? Am I searching in the right places? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank You!

Have you found any before in that location?

[GarterGeek]

Actually, yes! About five years ago my uncle and father caught a milksnake under the first board they lifted. The place is seemingly untouched since then...

[Zephyr]

Actually, yes! About five years ago my uncle and father caught a milksnake under the first board they lifted. The place is seemingly untouched since then...

These guys are VERY mysterious snakes.

As a matter of fact, in the past 3 years I've herped at my friend's house, she only found on accident while I wasn't there! (A female laid eggs under her porch step.)

The only other milk snake found in our area was a hatchling that was found after it was run over.

Try looking at night; I've never herped in milk snake territory then so maybe that's when they come out.

[mustang]

Good luck...i currently am looking for a western coachwhip whenever i go to my uncles ranch...during spring break it rained like HE<< and i was out there in rain and smoke (cause of rain the burn ban was temporairally put off and locals hadnt gotten to burn their shiste in ages) looking for one...never happend...now i got checker and i plan on keeping him even when i goto collage...(o this is my snake loving uncle not the killing one i mentioned in another post) get up before sunrise and be OUT THERE during the sunrise when it starts to warm up and when its cold at night drive around the road because snakes are attracted to heat good luck dont forget
"red and yellow kill a fellow
red and black friend of jack"

[GarterGeek]

Thanks! I've been searching around mid-day-ish. I'll try dawn and dusk next time. Good luck on your western coachwhip, I hope you find and can catch one. I've heard those guys are fast.

Coral snakes, luckily, aren't in my area. That's a good rhyme for me to remember when I go on trips though.
Eastern milk snakes are different from other milk snakes and don't have yellow. That's why I want one soooooooo much.
Here's a great photo I found:

http://ngaherps.com.previewyoursite....nMilksnake.jpg

[Brewster320]

I've been looking for them for awhile. They are pretty common but they are just so secretive and spend most of their time under ground in rodent burrows so they can be tricking to find unless you know a good spot. All the ones I've seen where found in basements.

[Millinex]

Wow... and thanks but im gonna have to wait to get a coachwhip because my parents now hate me having pets so this will be the last snake i have and i love it...when i move out im gonna have my garter(hopefully) a red phase western coachwhip and a nile monitor...i gues the last two are for my lack of common sense and iv never been bitten by any reptile except a green anole!!! i still got 3 years till i finsh hs il be a sophmore next year and in collage if i do get a dorm thell either alow pets or i sleep at a friends house hahahaha...the milk snake looks really cool good luck

I'm going to be 100% honest, your ambition of having a coachwhip is fine, while they are fast snakes they do ok in captivity and you should have no problems. However the idea of a nile monitor, please put this out of your head for now.

Niles take a lot of patience, time, and money. I've invested probably 400 dollars in mine so far total (including his cage). I don't want to rain on your parade or discourage you, but until you've kept a wide array of reptiles, a nile is nowhere near for you. Mine goes through a few pinkies a day, and uses his entire 155 gallon setup. He needs high basking temps and needs a large area of water to swim in. He will need a couple hours a day spent on taming him and in a couple years you will be looking at a lizard that will be eating a ton, and will require a very large setup. The idea about you keeping a nile in a dorm is simply ********. Before your out of a 4 year program your nile will be big enough that he will require a very large cage, they won't let you have that in a dorm room and even if they do, you won't be able to get it out. at 4 years a nile will be big enough to need an 8X4X4.

[celticguitar]

I had one until today an almost 3 footer I caught about 3 weeks ago It was just about to shed when I caught it and had a 3 smallish wounds on it's belly I treated the wounds and it had litle bit of a difficult time with it's shed so I helped it along. It was a quite beautiful Estern Milk but I could not get it to eat it refused both live and frozen smallish mice even after just shedding and it should have been hungry then .So not knowing when it's last meal was and not wanting to starve and stress it out to death I let it go back to it's home today. It wounds were completly healed and it was quite happy to go back home. too bad it was really calm easily handled I could have tried frogs but I decided to let go back. The spot I go to has tons of snakes mostly garter I see about 5-10 in about 100 foot walk along the pond. There are tons of frogs for them to eat. I have two small young common garters that I got from there that are doing quite well they eat well and have shed nicely. I saw larger specimens some between 3-4 feet in length that I caught looked at and let go because I didn't think at that size and age they would do well in captivity. Eastern Milks are nocturnal and feed at night so you probably won't find one out and about during the day I think the reason I found this one was because it was wounded.
Dwight

[wolfpacksved]

Although an eastern milk can show up in virtually any habitat within its range, I have found that they can be extremely abundant in rolling hill country w/ a touch of rocky terrain. Road cruising at dusk and a few hours after dusk has produced numerous milks for me. Occasionally they show up under rocks and loose bark of downed trees. Good luck on you hunt!