Yesterday was only the second time in over 30 years of living here that I’ve seen a red milk snake in the wild. (I did keep a couple for a few months in 1986 to make a movie about Missouri snakes for the Conservation Department.) This time it was on a path near a rocky stream. They usually like rocky hillsides. It just paused there as Henry and I took photos.

Although their colors are similar to the venomous coral snake (which doesn’t occur in Missouri), the red milk snake is totally non-venomous. In fact, if you were going to give snakes human attributes, I’d say this is pretty mellow snake. We took the photos and walked on. By the time we returned on the path, it was gone.

The red milk snake is a kind of constrictor, and eats small snakes, lizards and rodents. They never get very big…up to 28 inches long at the most. They’re really beautiful snakes.

For those who don’t appreciate snakes, this was not on a path you’d walk at the PGT, but was on land next to it. And it really was a rare sighting. Just happy it was there for me to see!