# milksnake common name origin



## Paladin (Sep 13, 2005)

anyone know the reason behind the common name for milksnakes?

just wondering


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## Paladin (Sep 14, 2005)

to answer my own question it invloves goats/cows and milk.......lol google is good stuff

anyway i guess they assumed that since the snakes were living in barns they believed they were feeding of the milk of cows....


correct me if im wrong


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## dangerprone69 (Sep 14, 2005)

Thats what I've read- kind of silly isn't it?


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## Damiano (Sep 14, 2005)

hi
they are called milksnake because sometimes they go to drink milk in the cows' mammals....


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## Bry (Sep 14, 2005)

Damiano said:
			
		

> they are called milksnake because sometimes they go to drink milk in the cows' mammals....


They don't actually drink milk, much less from the cow's "mammals".

As the myth goes, milksnakes were believed to be stealing milk from cows by sucking the milk. On a low milk production year, farmers would blame it on the milksnakes because they were always seen hanging around the barns. The milksnakes hung around the barns looking for mice or rats, not milk. Like all reptiles, milksnakes do not need milk. They do not benefit anything from milk because their bodies are not designed to accept and process milk. Snakes lack the mouthparts needed for sucking anything, much less milk. Sometimes, I wonder if a milksnake somewhere climbed up on a stool, and mistook a cow's teat for a giant pinky and latched on. To an uneducated farmer, it would look much like the milksnake was trying to steal milk.


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## Damiano (Sep 14, 2005)

I know they don't drink
I've only told it


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## Blasphemy (Oct 14, 2005)

Bry said:
			
		

> Snakes lack the mouthparts needed for sucking anything, much less milk.


Are you sure? I see my Kingsnake drinking from her water bowl all the time and I've seen plenty of snakes over the years (including milks) 'suck' up water from their bowls. It's not milk, but I don't see how they could drink it without sucking.


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