Milk snake is a type of kingsnake that farmers once believed took milk from cows. Today, scientists know that no snake is physically able to take milk from a cow. However, any snake might drink milk from a pail because of the milk’s water content. There are many subspecies of milk snakes. The best-known subspecies is the eastern milk snake. Like other kingsnakes, the milk snake eats lizards and rodents. Milk snakes frequently go into barnyards to hunt for rodents that nest there.
The eastern milk snake may be 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. Some other types of kingsnakes grow to be 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length. Eastern milk snakes are gray with dark-bordered chestnut blotches on the back and sides. Milk snakes found in the western and southern United States have a pattern of rings or blotches of reddish-orange, black, and either white or yellow.
