# Milk snake (*Lampropeltis triangulum*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/milk-snake  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

The milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) is a species in the family Colubridae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 950 g and live up to 17.5 years.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 950 g |
| Length | up to 2 m |
| Lifespan | 17.5 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 24 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | forest |
| Egg incubation | 58 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 7 – 10 |
| Age at maturity | 2 years – 5 years |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Active | At night (nocturnal) |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Recorded prey and predators

Recorded prey: Redbelly snake (*Storeria occipitomaculata*), Ring-necked snake (*Diadophis punctatus*), Brown snake (*Storeria dekayi*), Garden snake (*Thamnophis sirtalis*), Eastern deer mouse (*Peromyscus maniculatus*), Six-lined racerunner (*Aspidoscelis sexlineatus*), Woodland vole (*Microtus pinetorum*), Slender glass lizard (*Ophisaurus attenuatus*), Five-lined skink (*Plestiodon fasciatus*), Smooth green snake (*Opheodrys vernalis*). Recorded predators: Coyote (*Canis latrans*), Striped skunk (*Mephitis mephitis*), Raccoon (*Procyon lotor*), Red fox (*Vulpes vulpes*). Each pair is recorded by at least two datasets compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/, CC0 1.0).

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 4 countries. Introduced: Belgium, Ecuador, Poland, South Africa. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Reptilia
- order: Squamata
- family: Colubridae
- genus: Lampropeltis
- species: *Lampropeltis triangulum* (Lacépède, 1789)

Synonyms: *Coluber eximius*, *Coluber triangulum*, *Lampropeltis amaura*, *Lampropeltis doliata amaura*, *Lampropeltis doliata triangulum*, *Lampropeltis triangulum amaura*, *Ophibolus clericus*, *Ophibolus doliatus collaris*, *Ophibolus doliatus parallelus*, *Ophibolus doliatus syspilus*

## Common questions

### How big is the milk snake?

An adult milk snake weighs 950 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

### How long does the milk snake live?

The milk snake has a recorded lifespan of 17.5 years.

### Is the milk snake an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the milk snake as introduced in 4 countries: Belgium, Ecuador, Poland and South Africa, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

### What kind of animal is the milk snake?

The milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) belongs to the family Colubridae in the order Squamata.

### What eats the milk snake?

Animals recorded preying on the milk snake include coyote, striped skunk, raccoon and red fox. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

### Which animals does the milk snake eat?

Animals recorded as prey of the milk snake include redbelly snake, ring-necked snake, brown snake and garden snake. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products](https://www.globalbioticinteractions.org/), CC0 1.0, 0.11. Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference.
- [Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS)](https://griis.org/), CC BY 4.0, 2026-11-13. Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group.
- [ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4), CC BY 4.0, v1-2. Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
- [SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b), CC0 1.0, 1.0-dryad-v5. Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b

Cite as: Milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/milk-snake