"If I'm lyin,...I'm dyin".

Some of you won't believe me. But I reckon that's o.k. because I saw it with my own eyes, and I know it's true.

This morning as I passed by the door of the snakeroom, I noticed that Iris was wanting out. She's the female indigo who's sweet face accompanies all my posts. So,... out we went. Out to the front yard under the maple tree. She began cruising around like she always does. But when she got up next to the house, she stopped moving, and began to sniff something. I got up from my milk crate to investigate. As I approached, she grabbed hold of something. So I rushed over, and picked her up, not wanting her to eat anything wild. In her mouth was this poor little feller. She immediately released, and I think no harm came to the little hatchling.

The funny part is that I was just thinking about how many snakes an indigo would actually eat in the wild. It would appear that I have an answer.

Now I'm wondering,...is this a common milksnake? Or is it a juvenile prairie kingsnake? I have found many adult prairie kings here, but no babies that look like the adults. And this makes the second baby milk snake, but so far I have not found any adult milksnakes. So I'm wondering if the prairie kings are born like this, and then fade to dark green as they grow. Anyone know?
T.

No clue, but I'm sure you can market your snake finding Indigo. In fact I have several Namibian house snakes loose in my house. Charge by the hour or per snake?

No issues believing you on this end. The little fellow Iris found does not appear to be L. c calligaster (prarie king snake), at least not to me, but rather L. trianglum (red milk snake)...
Again, great report and kudos to Iris for a great find!

Best regards,

Jeff

Tony,

That is a red milk snake and not a hatchling.
ARe you keeping the little guy?

Eric

Well, it was WAY smaller than the photo would have you believe. My camera takes very good pics! Especially now that I have learned how to take close-ups. It was actually about the size of an earthworm,...medium sized night crawler. Y'all know bout fishin worms right?

I thought it was a red milk, but,...It's just strange to me that the hatchling prarie kings I have found here, bare a striking resemblance to these kids. But they change so drasticly to their adult colors. And I have not yet found any adult red milks. Although I sure would like to! Eventually.


I offered this little feller a mouse pink, but he decided he would rather not eat it. So I let him go,...{away} from where I walk the snakes. But you know,...I found a beautiful little hatchling hognose in that exact spot last year. Hmmmm. Thanks all,
T.

Yeah, those guys are pretty small, but in my experience I would have to say that given the size you desribed and the coloration it's probably a yearlying.
Hatchlings can be very small & the coloration is usually much brighter red. They tend to darken considerably with age.
If I were you i'd start doing some rock flipping around your house. If there's one, there's more!

Eric