Talk:Milk Snake
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[edit] Origin of the Name
I own a Corn Snake and add this to the possible etymology of the name, Milk Snake. As noted, these snakes are often found around farms and thus an association with dairy barns and cattle has led to the term, somewhat as in "milk maid". I suspect a closer link as illustrated by this anecdote. I usually feed my snake by dangling its "prey" mouse down into the opened top of its cage. Once, during a cleaning, I inadvertently held one hand, fingers dangling, over the opening and my snake unerringly struck and hung onto the end of a finger. The snake's response immediately called to mind the deep appeal that a plentiful crop of dangling udders in a dairy barn or pasture would elicit in any snake of good size. If the snake happens to "chew" as it adjusts is jaws, so much more "evidence" for seeming to milk the cow. I hope someone has actually witnessed this behaviour which would lend more credence to the literal origin of the name at some point in the past. Jelly Catullus 17:45, 25 February 2007 (UTC)Jelly Catullus 03:20, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
