The origin of the milk snake, some species and their features, basic tips for keeping at home, buying a reptile and price. In the event that your bright head, the thought that you are missing in your house, and in life in general, some kind of friend from the animal kingdom, then perhaps now is the time to seriously think about it. To begin with, decide who exactly you would like to contemplate every day in your home and how much time, energy and attention you can allocate for your companion.
There are people who dream of a pet all their lives, but they are stopped by the fact that having met a kitten or dog in a pet store, in a kennel or just on the street, they do not have the feeling that he is a friend and comrade that they have been for so long. looking for. There are personalities in our world who have an interest and attraction to completely different representatives of the world fauna, namely reptiles, amphibians or even snakes.
If in this characteristic you saw yourself, and right now you are choosing your domestic snake, pay attention to such a creation of mother nature as a milk snake. At certain moments of life, animals such as snakes can be looked at for hours, they have some special property, either a sedative, or they simply know how to bewitch with their unsurpassed, graceful appearance. And if we talk about a milk snake, then it really is not an animal, not a reptile, but the highest creation of art. Looking at her, one gets the impression that she came to us not from the wild, but from an expensive book with high-quality illustrations.
But still, no matter how cute and benevolent this beauty is, before you bring her to your house and settle next to you and your loved ones, you need to get to know her better.
The origin of the milk snake
The milk snake is a very cute and original representative of the large animal kingdom. Scientists who studied this specimen classified it into the class of reptiles, the order of scaly and the suborder of snakes. But, according to scientists, snakes are close relatives of this colorful living "rope", since they belong to the same family - already-shaped.
In nature, it seems possible to meet a large number of different species of this beautiful reptile, they differ among themselves in the characteristics of behavior, in appearance, and in their native lands.
If you have never seen this scaly before, but only read its name, you can involuntarily think that it should be an ordinary snake of more delicate white or slightly beige shades, but looking at this bright, colorful, multi-colored living creature, it begins to greatly surprise its name. The thing is that once upon a time, in their native habitats, these reptiles lived not so far from human possessions. At that time, people kept a fairly large number of cows. And when it happened that their nurses suddenly lost milk, or its amount decreased markedly, they did not think of anything better than to unanimously decide to blame the peculiar snakes for this, which quite often flashed before the eyes of the farmers, and thanks to their fighting coloring - not remember such a creature, well, it is simply impossible.
Later, a legend spread to all neighboring villages that supposedly these multi-colored reptiles are capable of sucking milk from their cows, so people were a little afraid of them. Thanks to these conversations, we now know her like a milk snake.
Varieties of the milk snake and their characteristic features
The Nelsoni albino milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum nelsoni albino) is a beautiful inhabitant of a semi-desert area rich in shrubs and xerophilous forests with low air humidity, which are located from central Mexico to the Pacific Ocean coast. This representative of the already-shaped grows in length no more than 100 cm.
The main color of this reptile is red, against this background it is easy to see the original ornament, which is formed by narrow rings of a slightly yellowish color, the marginal edges of these elements are decorated with edging in dark shades. The projection of the abdomen is colored identically with the entire surface of the snake's body. The head of this beauty has a very interesting color - the tip of the nose is light, there is a small amount of coal-black lines on it, a relatively large black ring is visible on the frontal area, but the occipital part of the head has a whitish-yellow color.
In captivity, this type of milk snake is often bred, especially albino individuals. But the presence of albinism in this reptile does not mean at all that they are white with red eyes, not at all. In these albino snakes, the color of the skin practically does not differ from ordinary reptiles of this species, only all the patterns on the body are painted not black, but pink-flesh-colored.
Sinaloian milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum sinaloae). This is one of the most beautiful representatives of the royal snake family. The maximum body length of this reptile is 150–160 cm. Mother Nature, of course, did her best to decorate her beautiful body. The basis of the entire color of the snake's body are wide stripes of rich bright red color scheme, between them there are so-called dividing areas, which are formed by thin lines placed in the correct sequence of colors: black, white and black. The head of this reptile is presented in black color scheme. The muzzle of the Sinaloian scaly is also tastefully decorated: in the back of the head there is a rather narrow light line, which is located transversely. The area around the nostrils is usually white or slightly yellowish in color.
The natural habitat of this black and red already-shaped is Mexico, it was first noticed in the Sinaloe, from which its name originated. In its homeland, it usually inhabits those places that other animals try to bypass - these are arid territories with stony soils and a very poor flora.
In its favorite locations, this royal reptile feels very comfortable, it tries to spend most of its free time from hunting in the water. The period of her activity falls at night, with the onset of dusk this graceful beauty goes hunting. The main "dishes" in her usual diet are small rodents and birds, but if a small lizard, or even a small snake, is encountered on its way, the Sinaloian snake will also not refuse such a meal. Young individuals are more picky in the choice of food, they eat only lizards. Honduran milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis). Honduras, Nicaragua and the northeastern part of Costa Rica are honored as their homeland. For a comfortable stay, he chooses tropical forests with high air humidity.
Examining the skin of this reptile, you can catch yourself thinking that some master of high art specially painted it. The entire body of this representative of the world fauna is decorated with stripes of red, black, yellow or white. It is interesting that these strips are equal in size to each other. The color of the head is black, most often in the nose and on the back of the head, you can see the transverse lines of a rich yellow color. If you take a closer look at the light areas of the snake's body, you can see some kind of dark ripples, it arises due to the fact that there are dark blotches on the tops of most of the scales.
In nature, there is a rare subspecies of the Honduran snake - "tangerine", it is special in that instead of yellow or white, stripes of a bright orange hue are painted on its body. In addition, the phenomenon of albinism is quite common in this species, they are especially often bred in captivity, since it is for albinos that snake breeders are in great demand. They differ from ordinary individuals of the Honduran snake in that their color is two-tone - broad stripes of red color are drawn on the main white background.
Campbell's milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli). This is a relatively small snake, its delightful body grows up to 80-90 cm. The skin of this representative of the animal kingdom, like the rest of its relatives, has a graceful color, formed by regularly alternating stripes of red, white, black. Usually red color predominates on her body, the stripes of these shades are noticeably wider than others. The front edge of the head appears before us in black, but in the temporal region it is already possible to notice the first white line, there are specimens in which this white line is spread almost to the very edge of the muzzle. The area of the abdomen of this minke is painted in a very original way, the thing is that the red stripes only half reach the abdominal surface of the snake's body, and all other shades fully extend to the bottom.
On our large planet, there are many unique individuals of this species with not quite typical colors. It happens that the red color scheme is completely absent on the body of this already-shaped one, and the white shade is also often replaced with bright orange or rich yellow tones, or black colors move to nearby areas.
Scaly content at home
It doesn't take any supernatural knowledge or skills to become a good host for your new friend. Moreover, it is the milk snake that is an excellent choice for those who have never come across such pets. She has a calm character and a rather remarkable intellect, for this reason the most important rule of successful living under the same roof with this beauty is the reliability of the terrarium, and only then a delicious lunch. Adhering to elementary advice, you will become the owner of such a delightful comrade, from whom it is impossible to take your eyes off, and the snake in your appearance will see a reliable friend, but only one, they prefer to live in splendid isolation.
- Personal accommodation for your tenant. As a home for your pet, it is best to purchase a terrarium designed for terrestrial species. When choosing an apartment in which your new friend will live, you must carefully select the dimensions. After all, a snake is a creature long enough and it will be good for his personal living space to allow him to move freely. In addition, although the terrarium should be of a horizontal type, it is not low in any way, because you will be installing lighting devices in it. The minimum distance from the reptile to the luminous device should be at least 45 cm.
- Flooring. Milk snakes are not very demanding on the soil that surrounds them, so coarse sand, coconut flakes, river pebbles, or plain paper can serve as a substrate for a home terrarium. The only condition is that the soil is always dry, but in no case dusty. It is recommended to place a sufficient amount of peat moss in the place where the heating device will be installed, not only will your pet often burrow into it, but it is also an excellent natural regulator of air humidity in the snake house.
- A place in the sun. For the reason that most of these milk snakes are active during the night period, the lighting device is an indispensable element in her apartment. It is best not to disturb the reptile's habitual rhythm, as this can negatively affect its health, mood and life expectancy. The duration of daylight hours for this scaly should be at least 12 hours, it must be gradually shortened, gradually immersing your pupil into hibernation.
- Temperature conditions. Temperature levels that work well for this unusual pet vary with the time of day. So at night in the terrarium, the thermometer should be no higher than 19-21 degrees, while in the daytime the already-like one likes to warm up well at temperatures above 28 degrees. The most optimal solution would be the conditional division of her home into cool and hot zones. To do this, a heating device is installed in one of the corners of the terrarium, where the highest temperature is observed, above 30 degrees, and the further it goes, the colder it gets. Thus, your milk snake can independently choose the conditions necessary at this moment.
- Air humidity coefficient. You can, of course, purchase specialized air humidity regulators at the pet store, but in the case of this pet, there is no particular need for them. It is best to install a mini-pool inside the terrarium, the main thing is that it is made of dense, heavy material, because this curious beauty will easily knock it over, and you will immediately need to start general cleaning in her house. From its pool, the snake will not only be able to drink water, but also immerse itself in it, especially when it is time to change its outfit with the help of molting. Sometimes they use containers of water as a toilet, so the water will have to be changed regularly. It is also good to spray the terrarium daily with warm water, just make sure that the liquid does not get on your milk snake - this is unnecessary stress for her, but she does not need it.
- Terrarium interior. Beautifully decorating the interior of your pet's dwelling, you not only provide him with more comfortable living conditions, but also get a very original piece of the interior of your own home. Be sure to make as many shelters as possible for your bright reptile, you can build them from stumps, various rocky rocks, pieces of tree bark and even clay products - it all depends on your imagination. But you still need to leave some free space, because sometimes snakes go out for walks.
- Getting ready for winter sleep. The introduction of your pet into hibernation should begin approximately from the last days of November, from this moment you need to gradually shorten the length of daylight hours, and in parallel, it is necessary to gradually reduce the night temperatures. When the day for your scaly is 8 hours, heating at night does not need to be turned on at all, during the day the heating devices are turned off, when the length of the day for a milk snake is 4 hours, at this moment you should stop feeding. Then you need to maintain temperature readings within 14-17 degrees. The duration of such a winter vacation is about 2 months, all this time do not forget to control the air humidity, it should not go beyond 40-50%.
- Diet. There are no problems with food for snakes, in captivity they are usually fed with various rodents and insects that can be bought on the market. She should be fed once every 5–6 days. It is necessary to feed your pet from time to time with various mineral and vitamin complexes.
Buying a milk snake
Breeding snakes in our country is a business that is gaining more and more popularity, so it is not very difficult to buy almost any snake. The price for one individual of a milk snake ranges from 4,000 to 18,000 rubles, it all depends on the type of reptile you are interested in.
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