Nelson’s Milk Snakes need regular freshwater because they not only like to drink a lot of water to keep themselves hydrated, but they also love soaking their bodies in the water to stay cool.

So, when keeping one in captivity, make sure they have somewhere to hide under when they are sleeping. Other than that, these snakes would rather hide under rocks or in burrows during the day to keep themselves away from the hot sun while they are sleeping. However, it has been shown that some of Nelson’s Milk Snakes would sometimes go out during the day when the conditions are quite wet and cool and not as hot as some normal days usually are. The Nelson’s Milk Snake is primarily nocturnal and would rather spend the day sleeping and then stay up during the evenings to hunt. In fact, a lot of breeders and pet owners preferred thawed mice for their Nelson’s Milk Snakes. However, thawed mice that were kept frozen are also very good for your snake if you happen to prefer not keeping any live mice around. In captivity, it is better to feed your Nelson’s Milk Snake with live mice to make them work for their prey. However, their regular diet consists mainly of small mammals or rodents, birds, and lizards when they are left in the wild. It is not uncommon for the Nelson Milk Snake to be feeding on fellow reptiles or even other venomous snakes in the wild. Not unusual for snakes, Nelson’s Milk Snakes are carnivorous reptiles that will feed on many different types of animals as long as they are small enough to fit the mouth of these snakes. Those found in the wild often have a shorter lifespan compared to those who are captive-bred. However, when taken care of properly, these snakes will usually live for more than 15 years regardless of their size and subspecies. The Nelson’s Milk Snake is a very hardy snake that can have a lifespan of 12 to 20 years. In many ways, these snakes are almost harmless. They only look venomous like the coral snakes as a defense mechanism against potential predators. Other than because they are very diversely colorful reptiles, Nelson’s Milk Snakes are very popular for many exotic pet owners is that they are not venomous.

Meanwhile, Coral Snakes usually have red and yellow bands together while Nelson’s Milk Snakes have bands that are alternating between red and black. Nelson’s Milk Snakes actually have blotches that are rounder and thicker compared to copperheads. Potential predators will be wary of going near them thinking that they are venomous. The way they appear is actually how they adapted to become defensively diverse in the wild. There are some types of reptiles that have males or females that are larger than the other, but these snakes are unique in the sense that it is difficult to tell them apart if you are merely basing their sex on their size alone.Īnother cool fact about Nelson’s Milk Snake appearance is that you may mistake them for venomous snakes such as the coral snake or the copperhead. Unlike other types of snakes, Nelson’s Milk Snakes are of the same size regardless of their sex. Meanwhile, the smaller ones can usually be found in North America. The longer ones are from Central and South America. The averaged size of these snakes is about 40 inches, but there are some that can grow as long as over 60 inches while there are some that are so small that they rarely grow a few inches longer than a foot. Nelson’s Milk Snakes vary so much that there are also different subspecies that are a lot larger than others. There are even Nelson’s Milk Snakes that have Y or V-shaped patterns on their necks. There are also some subspecies of this snake that have orange, black, or white bodies that have alternating bands of red, yellow, white, or orange. Some of Nelson’s Milk Snakes have bodies that are predominantly red with white bands inside bigger bands of black.

Albino nelsons milksnake