Look at what I found!!

[McCarthy Boas]

Hi Everyone,

Look what I found the other day.
It is a Eastern Milk Snake.
Not sure what I am going to do with it yet.
Should I keep it, give it to someone or let it go?

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Red_Milk_Snake01.JPG">

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Red_Milk_Snake05.JPG">

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/Red_Milk_Snake03.JPG">

Take care,
Tom

[Bartman]

hey if ya got room why not keep it. You would need to get it checked for parisites first but other than that its a free snake :) Id keep it.

[LdyDrgn]

Why Tom... you herper you ;) Nice find

[stormyva]

Awesome find Tom!
Keep it... might have to start a new line of smaller cages though :)

[reptilez]

Why keep it?
Its from the wild, let it stay there. If it has any parasites or diseases it could be transfered. It is a nice find but i think you should let it go.
-Reptilez

[MouseKilla]

You sure that's a milk snake? I thought those resembled kings. That one looks a lot like a corn to me. I really don't know myself, just wondering, nice whatever it is though. I'd let it go anyway, there can't be too many of them like that out there and there will be fewer if you keep it. I can relate to the temptation though, it will be hard to let that go.

[TheRedDragon]

Great find! Honestly, I'd keep it, just due to the fact that you'd be sparing it from any inconveniences that it may have in the wild. If you do decide to keep it, be sure to take it in to a Veterinarian and get it checked for parasites, and quarentine it from the rest of your herps until you're sure that it doesn't have any communicable diseases. In any event, good luck! :)

[Linds]

Too freakin cute! Such a tiny little thing! :p

[Zoe]

I'd let it go. This isn't a rare species in captivity, so why get something from the big great outdoors, put it into a (relatively) tiny cage, pay the vet fees to get him de-parasited and so on. Then you gotta bother with stressing getting it to eat etc etc. It, and you, will be better off the wild. If they couldn't handle it they'de extinct :P

Zoe

[Clownfishie]

That's one cute little snake! Great find...

[KingFfaj]

I say give him a meal and send him on his way;) or maybe buy one to breed and release some more into the wild;), so do they actualy come from indiana?

[mk-ultra]

very nice snake :)

i think you should let it go . same place you found him or a safe place far from the city


I'd keep it, just due to the fact that you'd be sparing it from any inconveniences that it may have in the wild.

i greatly hope you are just kidding :P

[Beardonicus]

Yup, looks like an eastern milksnake to me. Very nice specimen. They are protected in some states and it may be illegal to keep the snake. Just observe it and let it go.

[Simon R. Sansom]

What a little 'beaut!
I think I'd tend to release it somewhere safe.
I've heard that wild-caught Eastern Milks can be difficult to acclimate to captivity - babies especially seem to be hard to get feeding.

Great pics, though.
Thanks for sharing!

Simon

[TheRedDragon]

Originally posted by mk-ultra




i greatly hope you are just kidding :P

Actually, no, I am not. In captivity, the snake would have no natural predators, a constant supply of meals, fresh water, and a nice warm home supplied for it. I definitely wouldn't keep everything that I found, but, in some instances I might. That was an awesome find, and personally, I would keep it. I guess I should've reworded my previous post, I wouldn't keep it SOLELY for the benifits of captivity, but, also because it's a gorgeous snake. I would of course make sure that the snake would be legal for me to keep too. Here, it's illegal to keep snakes that are indigenous to the province, one reason being that the government doesn't want us breeding our native creatures and making a profit off of it.

[Beardonicus]

Taking snakes out of the wild is just not a good idea IMO.....its not like its anything "fancy" and baby wc colubrids are especially hard to acclimate......so in reality the snake would have no predators but probably die due to starvation.

[McCarthy Boas]

I have let the little guy go where I know he will be safe, then I found this one and I have all ready let this one go to.

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/09_2003MilkSnake03.JPG">

<img src="http://www.mccarthyboas.com/09_2003MilkSnake04.JPG">

Take care,
Tom