In collaboration with Colorado Plateau Research Station affiliate herpetologist Trevor Persons, who also lead authored or co-authored several species accounts, she served as a reviewer and data contributor for multiple accounts in the book. Central Plains Milksnakes or the Western Milksnake (Lampropeltis gentilis) is the most common species in the state. You should feed your milk snake thawed-frozen rodents and provide it with a water bowl big enough for the snake to get into. Milk snakes require a hot environment, so a wooden vivarium is a good choice. However, they can be anxious and may musk in self-defense. When a milksnake vibrates its tail very quickly in dry leaves, it sounds very similar to the noise of a rattlesnake’s rattle. Milk snakes are easy to handle, unlikely to bite, and simple to care for. Milksnakes can sometimes be confused for rattlesnakes due to their tapered tails and quick tail movements. Her research, including contributions by several former NAU graduate and undergraduate students, included aspects of each species’ etymology, taxonomy, distribution, habitat use, ecology, behavior, prey use, predators, parasites, and pathogens, captive husbandry (for narrow-headed gartersnakes), management status and conservation threats, and human perceptions of snakes. Milksnakes in our region tend to be more brown-colored, while western milksnakes are reddish in hue. guttata in the western part of Virginia, however, the corn snake has a longer head, a longer eye-jaw. Western Milksnake (Lampropeltis gentilis) 3 Arizona Mountain Kingsnake. CONFUSING SPECIES: This species may be confused with P. Her long-term research on federally threatened narrow-headed gartersnakes ( Thamnophis rufipunctatus), species of concern Arizona black rattlesnakes ( Crotalus cerberus) and North American milksnake ( Lampropeltis triangulum), and the medically important species western diamondback rattlesnake ( Crotalus atrox) formed the basis of much of these species accounts. but hasnt been documented yet (Western Massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus)). Erika is the lead author or species expert co-author on four species accounts in Snakes of Arizona, a recently published book (November 2020 Eco Publishing, Rodeo, New Mexico). Erika Nowak is an assistant research professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University.

Westeen milksnake