Is your Honduran continuously on the cool side or laying in the water bowl then this may be an indication that it is too hot in the warm zone. Always keep a good observation on your snakes and monitor their behaviour. At night the temperature may drop slightly but preferably not below 20C. The average temperature should be 24-25C on the cool side and 28C on the warmer side with a hot spot of 30C. This heat source may not exceed one-third of the ground floor so that your snake always has space to move away from the heatsource and to thermo-regulate between the warmer and cooler zone. As these snakes do not bask a basking spot is not needed. Heating can be done with a heating cable or heating strip. This humid shelter will especially be used when in shed or to lay eggs. You can also choose to keep the ground cover slightly drier and offer a hiding box filled with damp moss. However, it is easier to see dirt on the Aspen Bedding and remove when spotted. Where the cocopeat will retain moisture better and will aid in keeping a higher humidity level the Aspen will have less effect on this. High humidity does not mean a wet substrate. The average humidity will have to be around 60 to 70%. Offer a substrate in which they can dig such as aspenbedding or coconut based soil such as coco peat or Exo-Terra plantion soil. Keep this in mind when you are setting up an enclosure for these snakes. Temperatures here are moderately and there is little difference between day and night temperatures, the humidity is relatively high. Housing: These are real bottom dwellers and live naturally among fallen leaves and branches in the soil of the rainforest. This species is most active during dusk and evening. Today, virtually all Honduras milk snakes that are kept come from many generation offspring of animals held in captivity and this has resulted active, curious and calm snakes. They would mostly try to get away but may bite when fixated or handles incorrectly. In the past wild caught Hondurans can be very shy and hide away when disturbed. Origin and habitat: Naturally this species occurs in the tropical rainforests of north-eastern Costa Rica, almost the whole of Honduras - the area where this snake gets its common name from and Nicaragua.īehaviour: They like to hide themselves between the ground cover of the forest between fallen branches, leaves and stems. These have a reduced content of melanin and thus preserve their more youthful appearance. hondurensis then it is an option to purchase one of the 'hypomelanistic' variants. If you want an adult with the appearance of a newborn Lampropeltis t. Sometimes causing them to be almost black with a faint pattern. The melanin level will get higher ones the snakes mature. At the end of each scale is a small black dot. There are two natural variations known, the well-known 'tri-color' with the classic red-black-white-black band ring and the 'bicolor' also called 'tangerine' where the normally white band is orange to red in colour. The head is wide and slightly separated from the neck. Young animals are already 25 to 32cm when they hatch. However, there are many instances in captivity where the snakes reach a length of 150 to 160cm. General appearance: On average captive Honduran milksnakes will reach a length of 130cm. This combined with the many mutations that are available nowadays makes them a favourite among the milk snake enthusiasts.

They have a calm character and like most Lampropeltis species a strong feeding response. The Honduras milk snake is one of the longest species of Lampropeltis and is only surpassed by the big Lampropeltis triangulum gaigeae. Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis, (K.L.

Milksnake morphs