Red Milk Snake

I would like to give my thanks to Jen and Josh Dieter for this awesome photo!  Its great to have friends who are exploring and learning about the outdoors!  Please if you find cool specimens like this red milk snake take a picture and email it to me I would be thrilled to post it on Way of the Buffalo.

Red milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum syspila) also called candy cane snake is found throughout Iowa except the upper northeastern corner.  It's a small snake that only grows to a length of 21-28 inches with the longest ever found 42 inches.  It looks like it might be poisonous but isn't. Its habitat is forests and forest edges as well as farmland.  Red milk snakes eat mice, lizards, other snakes and reptile eggs.  Their underbelly is boldly checked black and white.