Who Breeds Louisiana Milksnakes?

[Ladyhawk]

I've loved snakes my whole life. Much of my childhood and adolescence was spent hunting for native non-venomous species. I kept them by the dozens.

I haven't had a pet snake since my early twenties and even those weren't full-time. I'd usually let them go after admiring them for a few weeks.

A few months ago, one of the local pet stores was having a "going out of business" sale. The proprietor popped open a small terrarium and let me handle a beautiful 17-inch-long Louisiana milksnake. "He doesn't musk?" I asked, picking him up. The snake was calm and threaded through my fingers, curiously flicking his tongue. "Nope," said the owner. "And he eats well, too...thawed pinkies...I'll let you have him, the terrarium and everything that goes with it for forty dollars."

I bought the snake on a whim and I've been hooked ever since. It took Bayou a couple of days to figure out I wasn't edible, but that cleared up as soon as I fed him. Since then he's been a joy. He's never musked me and he actually seems to enjoy being held. He does hide a lot of the time, but that's mostly due to the fact that milks are nocturnal. When feeding day approaches, he comes out more often to hunt.

Since then I've learned that milksnakes are supposed to be nervous and spastic. I've heard they mellow with age. At 17 inches, Bayou is a young adult. The book I read says Louisiana milks don't get much bigger than 26 inches.

I have a few questions: are Louisiana milks less prone to being nervous or did I just get an exceptional individual? Does anyone know who breeds these tiny jewels? I'd like to learn more about them and possibly breed them myself someday. The babies are tiny--only five inches--but I'm still interested in trying.

Has anyone had luck breeding for temperament? If you bred two calm milks, would the babies be more likely to be calm? Is it possible to line-breed for good temperament? Obviously this wouldn't be as easy as breeding for a certain color because there are probably many pairs of genes involved in making a base temperament.

I'm just really curious about this since my milksnake's mellow nature goes against everything I've read.

[crimsonking]

I used to have some amaura, but I don't anymore. I'm sure to get more in the future though. Anyway, you're in CA. try Shannon Brown. He's got nearly every ssp. I can think of.
:Mark

[Ladyhawk]

Do you have a website you could direct me to. By the say, nice snake pic on your avatar...what is that?

[crimsonking]

It's a mandarin rat snake.Thanks. Try high sierra reptiles. He may have some. There are a few breeders out there, but many available are w.c. Here's a pic of my female mandarin.
:Mark

[Ladyhawk]

Wow. That's a beautiful snake!

So many snakes...so little time.