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RTPI – Meet Your Neighbours: Eastern Milk Snake

Eastern Milk Snakes are harmless, beneficial constrictors that help control rodent populations in your backyard. In spite of their considerable size (reaching almost 3 ft) and beautiful coloration they are rarely seen. When cornered, a milk snake may hiss, vibrate its tail tip (imitating a rattlesnake), and even strike at you. However, its bite is harmless. Give them some space and any snake will slither away – likely never to be seen again. The common name Milk Snake comes from an old, mistaken belief that these snakes drink milk from sleeping cows!

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The ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ global biodiversity project is a worldwide photographic initiative dedicated to reconnecting people with the wildlife on their own doorsteps (wherever on the planet this doorstep happens to be) – and enriching their lives in the process. The animals and plants found in our immediate vicinity are vital to people: they represent the first, and for some, the only contact with wild nature we have.