milk snakes

[coluk]

Hi all.
Ive been keeping corn snakes for a while now and feel pretty confident with them.
I have just recently bought a mexican black milk snake, and to be honest cant find much about them.
She is a about 6 years old and has settled in quite well. I have just bought her a new viv and she really seems to like it, i think the one she came in was a bit to small for her.
Anyone got any info that may be useful or can point me to any good forums, like this cornsnake forum?
thanks col.

 

[Traci1]

I have just recently bought a mexican black milk snake, and to be honest cant find much about them.

Do you mean a mexican black king snake perhaps? I just did a quick Yahoo search and I saw mexican milk, black milk, but no mexican black milk.

 

[coluk]

Yes this did puzzle me at first. I could not find anything on mexican black milk snakes, but then i found this....http://www.kingsnake.com/king/triangulum/gaigeae.html

My first thought that it was a king snake and rang the guy i bought it off to enquire why he thought it was a mexican black milk snake. He said he had taken her to a dealer who said she was a mexican black milk snake. Im of the opinion that she is a black milk snake, but in truth could be a mexican black king snake, I really am not sure.

this is the reason im trying to find out as much about her as i can.

 

[Amanda E]

First of all, how big is it? Is it pretty much the same size as a corn (about 3 feet) or is it huge (6 feet)?

I was planning on getting a black milk (L. triangulum gaigeae) a few years ago and I did a lot of research on them.

Black milks are one of the most docile king/milks and they get really big. Black kings (L. getula nigritis) are a typical king, kind of frisky, and much smaller in size.

Black kings are from Mexico, Black milks are from Panama and Costa Rica.

Does your snake have any pattern to her anywhere? Black milks hatch as tricolored snakes and slowly get black as they age, some dont turn completely black as an adult and you can sometimes see the banding especially near the belly.

Black kings are hatched totally black.

Also, Black kings need suplemental heat. Black Milks don't need any heat (as long as it doesn't drop below 70 degrees) and actually can be stressed if too hot.

Another thing that may tell you, depending on how much the seller wanted to move her, did you pay a lot or a little? Black kings are about $75 (as babies) and black milks are much more expensive. I wouldn't think you could get an adult female black milk for less than $200.

Hope this info helps out a bit.

 

[coluk]

Thats alot of useful info thanks. My thought now is she is definatly a black milk. she is about 5ft in length, and has white marks on her belly as if she once had banding.
As for buying her, to be honest i kind of more rescued her from someone who rescued her.
The guy i got her from did house clearances, and found her in the tank in an old house.
He took her on but admitted to me that he did not know alot about snakes.
He had her for about a year, but she had escaped for about 6 months of that year. he eventually found her outside.

To be honest, although to give him his due he had tried, i found her to be not kept very well and a very unhappy lady.
she had been kept in her tank most of the time, including feeding, and the tank was not in a clean or nice condition.
First thing she did when we got her home was bite my wife, but now, change of tank and enviroment for her later, she is a very happy girl.

We both love her and our corns and they all are part of our household now.