Sick snakes will often be lethargic, less active and will hide or bury themselves. How can pet snake owners tell their animals are sick? Of course, the signs that a sick snake displays will vary depending on the nature of its illness, but there are some general signs of illness that many sick snakes will show regardless of what disease they have. Therefore, it can be very difficult for snake owners to realize that their pets are ill until the disease is advanced. And when they do get sick, they often take a long time, weeks to even months, to show signs of illness. Reptiles do everything slowly – they move slowly, eat slowly, digest slowly and even get sick slowly. Those are sensitive subjects and giving out info to those that might come collect snakes would not be fair to the snakes or those that have given pointers.By Laurie Hess, DVM, Dipl ABVP (Avian Practice) Note: I do not claim to be a Utah Milk Snake guru. Also, don't contact me for information to find them. The ancient Utahns are long gone, but the snake still remains. Field herping is much more interesting than sitting around making arrowheads. Is this just a coincidence, or were these people acquainted with the Utah Milk Snake? I think it is possible that there may have been some ancient Utahns that had an interest in this beautiful little snake. Utah Milk Snake colors and patterns can be seen in the weavings of these former Utah inhabitants. Ancient Utah tribal people lived where the Utah Milk Snake lived. I think that this is a large part of it's appeal, never mind the gorgeous colors. The snake is a bit difficult to find, even in a known area in perfect conditions. Also, there is a lot of great habitat that can only be flipped. I prefer to flip stones to find Utah Milk Snakes. Flipping stones gives me a feeling of being in control. I have worked the areas in between really hard in the right conditions and for reasons unknown to me I have failed miserably to find them while the other areas produce somewhat consistently. I once assumed myself that if these milk snakes were found in two adjacent areas and that there was similar terrain in between the areas, then you could just connect the dots. That is not the case. Looking back on that range map makes me laugh. The early information also showed a range map that included nearly 1/3 of the state of Utah in a solid/continuous range area. Either that or I am only finding younger ones. Actually, I think that 25 inches is as big as they get. I also thought that they were juveniles because I had obtained some old literature on Utah Milk Snakes that said they were supposed to reach 3 feet in length. My thought was Utah Mountain Kingsnakes because of the elevation. Dumb luck! I didn't even know what I was finding. Don't let this happen to you. The first Utah Milk Snakes that I found were purely accidental. I have looked directly into the eyes of medusa and it is too late for me. Is the Utah Milk Snake my favorite Utah snake? Definitely not, but this milk snake sub species has me captive and there is nothing I can do about it.

I gave up on this blog over 3 years ago and the fact that I am even writing this post is proof of the continuing obsession. The Utah Milk Snake is a ghost that haunts my thoughts and dreams and wastes a lot of my time and I can't get it to stop. I must warn anyone that has even a mild interest in reptiles to turn away quickly and never gaze upon this creature again. The Utah Milk Snake is the most beautiful thing that you can find in the wild anywhere in the entire world.

My milksnake