The rat snake I had years ago did musk, but I think too it depends on the snake, I know my daughters cali king no longer musks since he is handle alot. Please dont turn away from the world of colubrids, they are great fun. Maybe though someone with more colubrid experience will be able to tell us if it is all of them that does it. But I think it is more of a fear response of nervous response from the snake. And I think it gets better the more you handle them... but I could be wrong.