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Incredible find!!!

michael couture

michael couture

New member
About a half an hour ago, while sitting at the computer looking at amazing snakes, I heard my brother yell from his bedroom, "a big snake, outside my window". It took me about .2 secs to be out the door in front of his window, I know, I'm one of a few people that will run outside from inside because of a "big snake" in the lawn.
Anyways, I'm standing there taking directions from my brother standing at his window. "left, no more left", "no, behind you". And I'm thinking how "big" can this snake be if it's right there, all I see is my cable cord running across my lawn. But I could tell my brother knew he saw a snake, he was too animated to be mistaken for a cable cord. so I kept looking, left, right, and down, WOW I found it.
Apparently he said "baby snake", not "big" snake, and let me tell you it was tiny, how my brother saw it from his window is beyond me. But to my very happy surprise, it was what must be a newborn, Eastern Milk Snake. And being from NH where all I find is Garter's, Ribbon's, and the occasional Red Bellied and Brown Snakes, I was thrilled to say the least. Nothing against the other snakes, I still get very excited finding them, but a Milk Snake, WOW.
I set him up in an escape proof container, that I got when I purchased a snake at the last reptile show, so it already has holes for ample breathing. I also put in some reptile bedding that contains dirt and ground mulch, and he immediately took cover in it.
I will post pictures later because I don't want to bother him too much before I release him, but he is an absolutely beautiful red Eastern Milk Snake. He is no more than 6" in lenghth, and is absolutely perfect. Sorry for the long story, but for me this is so exciting, I can't help it.
 
That's too cool! The only snakes I'm going to see in my backyard are garters..lol I would love to live somewhere with lots of unusual reptiles :)
 
is there a law against keeping them as pets back there?
heck if I stumbled across a baby snake, I definitely would adopt it.
It is morally questionable but I doubt I would have been strong enough to resist.
Keeping local reptiles here is banned by law so... that dilemma was resolved for me
 
I can't wait for pics!! I hope he eats for you! That would be so cool to find a milksnake!!!
 
Very cool! The only snake I've found in my yard so far is a little glass snake/lizard thing. I've seen a black racer, but I wasn't fast enough to catch him...
 
Bluebird said:
That's too cool! The only snakes I'm going to see in my backyard are garters..lol I would love to live somewhere with lots of unusual reptiles :)
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Actually, I usually feel like you do, being from New Hampshire and hearing people post about finding King snakes, Corn snakes, and others. Milk snakes are really the most unusual snake where I live, and we have no lizards. This was the 2nd Milk snake I've ever found, but the first was when I was very young, so we just observed it and let it carry on. We do have Red-Bellied snakes, I've found quite a few of those, which are small but beautiful. And ring-necked Snakes, though they are very, very rare, and I've never found one.

Kokopelli said:
is there a law against keeping them as pets back there?
heck if I stumbled across a baby snake, I definitely would adopt it.
It is morally questionable but I doubt I would have been strong enough to resist.
Keeping local reptiles here is banned by law so... that dilemma was resolved for me
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I think there is a law prohibiting keeping him, so I will let him go, though he's a very beautiful snake. Also my grandfather is a naturalist who really discourages people from keeping wildlife, he's not a huge fan of even keeping reptiles in general. But he understands my love of them, and had a collection himself when he was younger. But it is tempting lol, I will try feeding him, and keep him to observe him for a few days if he eats.


Nanci said:
I can't wait for pics!! I hope he eats for you! That would be so cool to find a milksnake!!!
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I will post pics tonight, he has a very great pattern, and his color is amazing. I was so excited when I found him, so I went out for a while looking for more, but no luck. But it's a rainy day, so I went out looking for worms, although that's not really Part of a Milk Snakes diet, I figured I'd try.

But it was a great day, I found 6 Red Back Salamanders, a baby Spotted Salamander, which would have made my day if I did'nt find the Milk snake, and I also found 3 Wood Frogs, one of which is almost orange (they're generally brownish bronze). I set up a plastic vivarium with some moss, wet leaves, and bark, for the amphibians, I keep the snake seperate, and I will probably post some pics of them as well. I'm currently thawing a tiny pinky, and we'll see how that goes. I will rub it against the wood frog for the scent, seeing that frogs, toads, and salamanders are the largest part of their diet. Thank you guys for the responses, and I will keep this post updated. The New England Reptile Expo is this saturday, but there's nothing better than finding local herps, especially rare ones.
 
One of my coolest herps is a wild caught American toad. She is awesome-- lots of personality. If you decide you might like to keep him, remember to check local laws. You can call your local game dept to find out if it is legal.
 
RobbiesCornField said:
Very cool! The only snake I've found in my yard so far is a little glass snake/lizard thing. I've seen a black racer, but I wasn't fast enough to catch him...
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sorry, you posted while I was typing, that's why I didn't respond. That's strange that you've had such little luck finding snakes, I noticed you were from Florida. I always wished I had the diverse reptiles that places with warmer climates had, I've been to Florida once with my aunt and uncle. My cousin wanted to do the basic vacation thing, but I just wanted to find some Anoles. The first cottage we stayed at had some wooded areas, I caught quite a few Anoles, saw one long, black snake (probably a racer), and I caught some type of gecko under the canoe.
 
Hypancistrus said:
One of my coolest herps is a wild caught American toad. She is awesome-- lots of personality. If you decide you might like to keep him, remember to check local laws. You can call your local game dept to find out if it is legal.
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I will check local laws, but I probably would'nt keep him anyways. Unless it's legal, and he eats within a day or two, in which case I might (very unlikely though). I just find it different keeping captive snakes, and taking populations from the wild.
 
Update, I just checked the wildife of new hampshire regulations. Eastern Milk Snakes are legal to keep, though only in small quantities, but are illegal to sell. This really does'nt change my mind anyways seeing I just don't like taking animals from the wild, but should he eat well, and if I decide to, it is NOT illegal in New Hampshire. But every state is different, and it is still best to let wild populations remain wild.
 
michael couture said:
sorry, you posted while I was typing, that's why I didn't respond. That's strange that you've had such little luck finding snakes, I noticed you were from Florida. I always wished I had the diverse reptiles that places with warmer climates had, I've been to Florida once with my aunt and uncle. My cousin wanted to do the basic vacation thing, but I just wanted to find some Anoles. The first cottage we stayed at had some wooded areas, I caught quite a few Anoles, saw one long, black snake (probably a racer), and I caught some type of gecko under the canoe.
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Yeah, we've got anoles out the wazoo just CRAWLING all over the house. Oh, I left out the little hatchling ringneck that we found. It could literally curl up on a dime.
 
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