Eastern Milk Snake
Lampropeltis triangulum
Also called: milksnake, house snake
A secretive, harmless constrictor with red-brown blotches, often found around barns and old buildings and often mistaken for a copperhead.
- Kind
- Harmless Lookalikes
- Typical length
- 2 to 3.5 feet
- Range
- The eastern U.S. from southern Maine and the Great Lakes south through the Appalachians
- Regions
- Northeast, Southeast, Midwest & Plains
- Habitat
- Woods & forest, Grass & prairie
- When active
- Spring through fall, mostly at dusk and night
Note: Milk snakes shake their tails and may bite if handled. They are not venomous.
How to identify it
- Rows of reddish-brown blotches with black borders cover a gray or tan body.
- A pale Y- or V-shaped mark sits on the back of the neck.
- The belly has a black-and-white checkerboard.
- The head is small and only slightly wider than the neck.
Often confused with
- Copperhead: hourglass-shaped bands on a tan body, and a copper head with no neck mark.
- Eastern Coral Snake: full red, black, and yellow rings; the milk snake has blotches instead.
If you meet one
- Leave it alone. Harmless snakes eat rodents and are useful neighbors, and many are protected by state law.
- Give it room and let it move on. Handling or cornering a snake is how most bites happen, even from harmless ones.
- If you cannot tell for sure what it is, treat it as venomous and walk around it.
Field notes
Despite the old story, milk snakes do not drink from cows. They hunt mice and sometimes other snakes, and they are often found under boards and in old outbuildings.
Related guides
This page is a general reference, not medical advice and not a substitute for identifying a real snake with an expert. Many snakes are protected by state law, and rules about killing or handling them vary, so check your state wildlife agency; our state resources directory links to each one. For any bite, get emergency care.