Red touches yellow, it's bad for a fellow."Ī young milk snake found in central Tennessee that has just eaten a lizardĭue to the many colors of the eastern milk snake ( L. Red on black venom lack" or "Red touches black, it's a friend of Jack. Examples of unreliable mnemonics commonly used: Some coral snakes do not have the typical banding colors or patterns. Experts now recognize that common mnemonics that people use to distinguish between the deadly coral snake and the harmless milk snake are not 100% reliable. Both milk snakes and coral snakes possess transverse bands of red, black, and yellow. Some milk snakes have a striking resemblance to coral snakes, in Batesian mimicry, which likely scares away potential predators. However, red blotches instead of bands are seen in some populations. They have smooth and shiny scales and their typical color pattern is alternating bands of red-black-yellow or white-black-red.
Generally more tropical populations, from Mexico and further south, reach larger adult sizes than milk snakes living in the temperate zones. Males typically are larger than females in maturity, although females can be bulkier than males similar in length, as well. However, unusually large milk snakes can become rather bulkier than average-sized adults and potentially weigh up to 750 to 1,400 g (1.65 to 3.09 lb), though high weights as such are generally reported from captivity.
They appear to be one of the smaller species of the kingsnake genus, as adults in the wild apparently average from 38 to 225 g (1.3 to 7.9 oz) in North America and most typically do not exceed a total length of 90 cm (35 in). Milk snakes commonly exceed 60 cm (24 in) in total length (including tail), with very large specimens known to reach total lengths of 120 to 132 cm (47 to 52 in). They are distributed from southeastern Canada through most of the continental United States to Central America, south to western Ecuador and northern Venezuela in northern South America.
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