Common Name: Milk Snake
Latin Name: Lampropeltis triangulum
Native to: Southeastern Canada to northern South America
Size: From 6" to 28" for L. t. elapsoides, the Scarlet Kingsnake to 16" to 48" for L. t. gaigeae the Black Milk Snake and L. t. hondurensis, the Honduran Milk Snake.
Life span: 20 + years, average is 15 years.
General appearance: This species is represented by three general pattern types: tri-colored in which the snake possesses bold rings of white/ yellow, black, and red/orange, which may or may not extend onto the belly and completely encircle the snake. The other commonly encountered pattern type for this species is that of a light tan, gray or cream background color with darker red, russet or brown dorsal and lateral blotches. The last pattern type belongs only to the black milk snake L. t. gaigeae. This snake starts out tri-colored but turns into a completely patternless black snake by two years of age. Depending on the sub-species, milk snakes can be either heavy bodied (Pueblan, Black and Mexican) or slim (Sinaloan, Nelson's and Scarlet Kingsnake).