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Western milk snake

Lampropeltis gentilis · Snakes · Reptiles

Western milk snake (Lampropeltis gentilis): Black, white and red bands in the order red-black-white-black-red, with red the widest and black and white similar or black thinner (CPW). Smooth scales; to about 85 cm in eastern Colorado and 72 cm in western Colorado (CPW). This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Lampropeltis gentilis
Family
Colubridae
In North America
Native
Range
Utah, eastern Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska south through parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma to southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern Texas, southern Arkansas and Louisiana west of the Mississippi; to about 2,740 m (NatureServe).
Biology

How to identify it

Black, white and red bands in the order red-black-white-black-red, with red the widest and black and white similar or black thinner (CPW). [1][2]

Smooth scales; to about 85 cm in eastern Colorado and 72 cm in western Colorado (CPW). [1][2]

US coral snakes instead run red-yellow or white-black-yellow or white-red, with red and black bands about equal and the pale band thin; coral snakes do not occur in Colorado (CPW). [1][2]

Compared with the coral snakes: Coral snakes have red and black bands of about equal width separated by thin yellow or white bands; the milksnake's red is widest (CPW). [1][2]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a western milk snake before you act. Compared with the coral snakes: Coral snakes have red and black bands of about equal width separated by thin yellow or white bands; the milksnake's red is widest (CPW).[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Varies widely: semiarid to wet, lowland valleys to mountains, grassland and shrubland to forest edges, dunes to rocky areas, and semiagricultural and suburban areas (NatureServe); in Colorado prairie, sandhills, canyons, river valleys, ponderosa pine and pinyon-juniper (CPW). [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Secretive; hides in or under logs, stumps and other surface cover by day but may be found in the open (NatureServe; CPW). [1][2]

Opportunistic feeder on eggs and small vertebrates; diet dominated by lizards and mammals (CPW; NatureServe). [1][2]

Hibernates underground or in deep crevices; eggs laid in soil or under cover (NatureServe). [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Utah, eastern Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska south through parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma to southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern Texas, southern Arkansas and Louisiana west of the Mississippi; to about 2,740 m (NatureServe).

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. BIOLOGICALMilksnake

    Colorado Parks and Wildlife · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Colorado Parks and Wildlife