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Learn about the milksnake, including the appearance, biology, habitat, threats, similar species, and endangered status in Ontario.
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Document Information
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Executive Summary
- 1. COSEWICFootnote2 Species Assessment Information
- 2. Species Status Information
•Document Information
•Preface
•Acknowledgments
•Executive Summary
•1. Committee for the Status of Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Species Assessment Information
•2. Species Status Information
•Figure 1. Distribution of the Eastern Milksnake in Canada and the United States, and occurrence of the Eastern Milksnake subspecies.
•Figure 2. Distribution of the Eastern Milksnake in Ontario.
•Table 1. Threat Classification Table
•Table 2. Conservation Measures and Implementation Schedule
•Table 3. Subnational Conservation Status Ranks (S-Ranks) for the Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum) in the United States of America (NatureServe 2015).
•Table 4. Species at risk expected to benefit from management techniques directed at Eastern Milksnake in Canada.
Recommended citation
Environment Canada. 2015. Management Plan for the Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Environment Canada, Ottawa. iii + 27 pp. For copies of the management plan, or for additional information on species at risk, including the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Status Reports, residence descriptions, action plans, and other related recovery documents, please visit the Species at Risk (SAR) Public Registry. Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source.
The federal, provincial, and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996) agreed to establish complementary legislation and programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c.29) (SARA), the federal competent ministers are responsible for the preparation of management plans for listed species of special concern and are required to report on progress within five years after the publication of the final document on the SAR Public Registry.
The Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada Agency is the competent minister under SARA for the Eastern Milksnake and has prepared this management plan as per section 65 of SARA. To the extent possible, it has been prepared in cooperation with the Government of Ontario and the Government of Quebec.
Success in the conservation of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this management plan and will not be achieved by Environment Canada, or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this management plan for the benefit of the Eastern Milksnake and Canadian society as a whole.
Implementation of this management plan is subject to appropriations, priorities, and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations.
This management plan was drafted by Jennie L. Pearce (Pearce and Associates Ecological Research) and David Anthony Kirk (Aquila Conservation and Environment Consulting) with input and direction from Angela McConnell (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario). It was updated and revised by Rachel deCatanzaro and Lee Voisin (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario), Tianna Burke, and Louis Gagnon (formerly of Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario). Contributions and advice from Sylvain Giguère, Mark Dionne, and Gabrielle Fortin (Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service – Quebec), Karine Bériault (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources), James Paterson (Ontario Nature), conservation data centers and herpetofunal atlas projects are also gratefully acknowledged.
Acknowledgement and thanks is given to all other parties that provided advice and input used to help inform the development of this management plan including various Aboriginal organizations and individuals, individual citizens, and stakeholders who provided input and/or participated in consultation meetings.
The Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) is a non-venomous constrictor in the family Colubridae. In Canada, the Eastern Milksnake ranges throughout southern Ontario as far north as Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Nipissing. It also occurs in southwestern Quebec, particularly near Montreal, Montérégie, and the Gatineau areas. The current distribution of the Eastern Milksnake within its known range in Canada is not fully understood and there is insufficient information available to assess trends in the species' abundance or distribution.
The Eastern Milksnake is known to inhabit a wide variety of natural and human-modified habitats including prairies, meadows, pastures, hayfields, rocky outcrops, rocky hillsides and forests. The species requires suitable cover for egg-laying, hibernation, and thermoregulationFootnote1.
Although limiting factors are not well-known in Canada, the range of the Eastern Milksnake is thought to be limited by temperature and by suitable habitat for egg-laying within its Canadian range. In addition, the resiliency of Eastern Milksnake populations may be constrained by the species' life history characteristics. Eastern Milksnakes are long-lived, have delayed sexual maturity, and females may only lay a clutch of eggs every second year. As a result, even slight increases in adult mortality can cause populations to decline.
The main threats to the Eastern Milksnake in Canada include: urban, industrial, and intense agricultural development; persecution; road mortality; removal of old farm buildings; disturbance from human recreation; predation by domestic animals; mortality caused by agricultural equipment; and collection for the pet trade.
The management objective for the Eastern Milksnake is to maintain populations throughout the known range in Canada where it is known to occur and, where possible, fill knowledge gaps on demographics, habitat use and threats to the subspecies found in Canada. There are a number of broad strategies to achieve the management objectives described in section 6.2. Several initiatives have been completed or are currently underway that will aid in the conservation of the Eastern Milksnake.
A number of conservation measures to achieve the management objective are proposed. Conservation measures will best be achieved through an integrated approach with recovery initiatives for other snake species-at-risk wherever possible. Negative effects on other species are not expected from conservation activities for Eastern Milksnake, and activities aimed at conserving the Eastern Milksnake in Canada are likely to benefit a number of other species at risk.
Date of Assessment: May 2014
Common Name (population): Eastern Milksnake
Scientific Name: Lampropeltis triangulum
COSEWIC Status: Special Concern
Reason for Designation: This large, non-venomous snake continues to be relatively widespread in southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec, but has suffered localized declines concurrent with expanding urbanization and intensification of agriculture. The life history characteristics of this species, including late maturation, longevity (up to 20 years), and relatively low reproductive potential, increase its vulnerability to various anthropogenic threats, including habitat loss, persecution and collection for the pet trade.
Canadian Occurrence: Ontario and Quebec
While the Eastern Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum)Footnote3 is ranked SecureFootnote4 both globally (G5) and in the United States (N5), the species is considered ImperiledFootnote5 (S2) in Alabama and Georgia, (NatureServe 2015). Appendix A contains a complete list of subnational ranks for the Eastern Milksnake throughout its range in the U.S.
In Canada, the Eastern Milksnake has a rank ranging between VulnerableFootnote6 and Apparently SecureFootnote7 (N3N4) nationally, meaning that there is some uncertainty about the status of the species. Subnationally, it is ranked Vulnerable (S3) in Ontario and UnrankedFootnote8 (SNR) in Quebec, the only two provinces in which it occurs. The Eastern Milksnake is listed as Special Concern under Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), as well as under Schedule 4 of Ontario's Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). In Quebec, it is on the List of Wildlife Species Likely to be Designated as Threatened or Vulnerable under the Act Respecting Threatened or Vulnerable Species (RLRQ, ch. E-12.01). The Eastern Milksnake has also been designated as a Specially Protected Reptile under Ontario's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act (S.O.1997, c.41).
Milk snakes can be found from the southeastern extreme of Ontario, Canada, from southeastern Maine and all the states of the Eastern Seaboard, south to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi; in the midwest, from central Minnesota to Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas; they are found in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains; Georgia, Tennessee ...
In Canada, the Eastern Milksnake is limited to southern Quebec and Ontario south of Lake Superior. This species is found throughout the northeastern United States as far south as northern Alabama and west to Minnesota and Iowa.
The eastern milksnake is found from the Carolinian zone in southern Ontario to as far east as Brockville and Ottawa and north into Sudbury, with historical sightings further north into Sault Ste. Marie. The Land Between represents a large portion of their habitat.
The Snakes of Ontario. Eastern Milksnake. Lampropeltis triangulum. 1. Summary 2. Lampropeltis triangulum, commonly known as a milk snake or milksnake, is a species of king snake. There are 24 subspecies of milk snakes.
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Description. The eastern milk snake averages 60 to 91 centimetres (24 to 36 in) in total length (including tail), although specimens as long as 132 centimetres (52 in) in total length have been measured. It has smooth and shiny scales. The dorsal color pattern consists of brownish dorsal saddles, which are edged with black.
