Tangerine Honduran Milksnake

Description:

My beautiful pet snake, named Mica ("MEE-kah"). She is obviously not indigenous to my area, though some less colorful milksnakes are. (I don't really know the sex of the snake, just decided to call it a "she.". Milksnakes can only be sexed by specialists.). Mica was bred in captivity. She is a "tangerine" variety, so she has only orange and black, not the red, yellow, and black which most milksnakes have. I think tangerines are a color variation produced by selective breeding in captivity, thus not present in the wild. In the photo, she's dining on a fuzzy (young mouse), which I bought pre-killed and frozen. I have to thaw them before feeding. I put the mouse in warm chicken broth for a minute or so, bc Mica likes the smell. A lot of snakes refuse to eat pre-killed prey, but the scent of the broth drives Mica crazy, and I've never had trouble getting her to eat. I got her about two and a half years ago, when she was a hatchling. She's grown A LOT since then! She's a very tame snake who doesn't mind being handled. My first pet snake, and the lowest-maintenance pet I've ever had! I highly recommend milksnakes as pets, for anyone considering one.

Habitat:

10-gallon tank with aspen (?) bedding, hiding places, and a water dish (which needs cleaning badly!). I have a UV light for her, but rarely use it bc snakes don't need them like lizards do. Also a heat lamp, one for daytime and one "moonlight" lamp to keep her cage warm at night without keeping her awake. Not using these now, though, bc our house is a good temperature for her this time of year.

Notes:

Usually I put her in a different container for feeding time, but she was being uncharacteristically stubborn today, so I let her eat in her cage.