Honduran Milk Snake Care Guide
This guide is meant to provide you with the basic information needed to care for your Honduran Milk Snake. If you have a health issue with your snake you should consult a qualified veterinarian.
Commitment A snake is a long term commitment, so make sure that you will be able to take care of the snake properly and understand that the snake may be around for 20 years or more. Do your homework before you buy!
Purchasing We recommend that you purchase a snake from a reputable breeder that can provide you with good accurate information like the feeding schedule, health and genetics of the snake. It would be a good idea to have a cage set up for your snake before you get it home. You also want to make sure that you will have a source of food in your area.
Feeding You may want to give your snake a few days to get accustomed to its new environment before feeding, but we have had some Hondurans eat on the same day that we got them. We generally feed our snakes an appropriate sized rodent once per week and they always have fresh water to drink. Our babies start out on pinky mice and by the end of their first year they have usually progressed to hopper mice or rat pinkies. Our adults feed almost exclusively on small rats. We feed both live and thawed rodents and they each have advantages and disadvantages. Live rodents require care, like feeding and cleaning, while frozen rodents only require freezer space. Live rodents are never wasted because if one snake is not hungry you can simply feed t to one that is hungry. If you do feed live you also need to watch the feeding to make sure that your snake is not being injured by the rodent. Another thing to keep in mind is that some snakes will only eat live. In the end you have to use what works best for you and your snake.
Housing The cage should be appropriate in size and temperature. A good rule of thumb on the size is to have a cage with a circumference that is larger than the length of the snake. There are many heat sources available, such as heat lamps and under tank heat pads. If you are going to use one of these heat sources you should try to create a thermal gradient where one end of the cage is about 85 degrees and the other end is about 75 degrees. We keep the air temperature in our facility at a range that goes from 77 degrees at night to 82 degrees during the day. You also need to provide a good substrate for the cage floor. There are a number of commercially produced paper based products on the market, along with aspen chips and newspaper. You want to stay away from pine and cedar products because they can be harmful to your snake. You may also want to provide your snake with a hide box, which is basically anything that they can get under. This makes them feel much more comfortable and secure in their environment. We recommend that you use a hide made of plastic, so that is can easily be cleaned. You also need to keep the cage clean and we suggest that you remove any fecal matter immediately upon its discovery.
Handling As babies Honduran Milk snakes can be quite jumpy and during their first year we usually keep handling to a minimum. Keep in mind that all snakes bite and a scared baby Honduran can also defecate on you. As babies they think you are about to eat them so they use what they have as a means of defense. Usually by the end of their first year they have calmed down quite a bit and are much easier to handle. Most adults are dog tame and can be handled very easily. Also, you do not want to handle your snake for a few days after they have had a meal because you may cause them to regurgitate.
Shedding Snakes shed as they grow and many of ours shed about once a month. You need to keep an eye on your snake to make sure that they get all of the old skin off when they shed. We use water bowls large enough for them to soak in if they need to. Some use a container filled with damp moss to help their snakes shed. The tip of the tail and the eye caps seem to be the most common problem areas. If we have a snake with shed problems we will soak it in 80 degree water for about 30 minutes. Then will pull off what ever they are not able to shed on their own. We usually use a damp Q tip to remove the eye caps. If you do not remove the old skin it can cause the tissue underneath it to die, so it does bear watching.
Breeding Most Hondurans will be ready to breed by their third year. Some may breed at two and some may not breed until they are four or five. There is some debate about whether they require a reduction in light or temperature, but we provide them with both for three months. Basically during the winter we keep them between 50 and 60 degrees for three months. We then warm them back up and feed them a little more than usual. The females should begin to ovulate after their first or second shed. You should be able to notice some swelling from about the mid point back when they are ovulating and you can also sometimes feel the egg follicles. You should keep an ovulating female paired up with a male as often as possible. You should also keep good records, so you know what you are producing.
Gravid A gravid or pregnant female will swell up to the point that you will see the skin between the scales. At this point you will want to provide your snake with an egg box to lay her eggs in. We use a container large enough for them to lay in filled with damp sphagnum moss. A gravid female will usually lay her eggs after she sheds, so keep an eye on them for a week or two after they shed. It can take some snakes several days to get all of the eggs out and we try not to disturb them during this time. Some do become egg bound, but most of them will eventually pass all of the eggs on their own. If you feel like your snake is in distress and will not be able to pass the eggs on her own we recommend that you contact a qualified veterinarian.
Egg Incubation There are a number of methods used and you need to find out what works best for you. We keep our eggs in damp sphagnum moss at temperatures between 77 and 80 degrees. Most of ours hatch at about 70 days. You will notice that the eggs begin to sink in a bit before they hatch. Most of them will hatch on their own, but some of them may need some assistance. Be patient and allow them the opportunity to get out on their own.
Babies Most babies will eat soon after they hatch or soon after their first shed. After we get a few meals in them and they have shed we sex them. You can pop them or probe them to determine their sex. We recommend that you learn these techniques from an experienced person. Popping is rolling your thumb from the tail toward the vent, which will cause the hemipenes to be exposed in males and you can see two small red dots on the females. Probing is the use of a small rod being inserted at the vent towards the tip of the tail. The rod will travel about a quarter to a half an inch on baby males and will not travel much at all on females. Again we recommend that you learn these techniques in person from a person with experience because you can injure your snake if you do not know what you are doing. Once they have fed a few times, shed and have been sexed they are ready to go.
Joe Exposito (336) 262-1568 P.O. Box 593 Wilkesboro, NC 28697
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