Talk:Eastern milk snake

Description

The description I found in 1920 Americana for a "house snake or milk snake" seems to match the Peterson field guide for this variety. See  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) Both Peterson and Americana talk about 3 (Peterson mentions the possibility of 5) series of black-bordered brown (Peterson mention reddish-brown as a possibility) blotches on a gray (Peterson says it can also be tan) ground along the length of the snake. Banding has no part in the description. Also mentioned by both is a checkered underbelly (Peterson has a figure). That feature would be good to include. I think the current description of bands alternating with saddles is misleading. It is hard to imagine topologically. The "band" has to split to accommodate both the "saddles" and the lateral blotches. The latter are now not even mentioned. Possibly "saddle" is descriptive for the dorsal series of blotches, but "band" should be discarded altogether. Blotches seems more reasonable, though apparently the pattern varies and "saddle" can be very appropriate in some situations, as with the specimen photograph in the article. Bob Burkhardt (talk) 15:41, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

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Redness only in the south part of its range?

The article says "The dorsal saddles are sometimes reddish or reddish brown in southern areas of its range," citing two offline sources. The article also includes seven photos of individual specimens. The three that are bright red are from Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee. I'll give you Tennessee, but the other two don't seem very southern. My personal impression, which seems confirmed by some casual internet searching, is that their color is often brighter as juveniles, becoming more muted and darker with age. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 11:45, 10 November 2025 (UTC)