Found these two cuties on Sunday (Storeria dekayi?)

[Jenjen79]

Hello everyone, I was out on a walk in my local forest preserve (Chicago) and I picked up these two cuties! I have done my research and am guessing they are dekays? We have not named them yet, as we do not know for sure if we are keeping or returning them.

I could really use a little help with guessing sex, I also have a couple concerns about the appearance of one of them.

Snake #1 is looking a little beat up to me. I'm curious if I should be concerned. You will notice he/she has a little kink at the end of its tail, and the scales on the belly seem to look a little roughed up. There is also a long line (like a dent) running up/down its entire body. Otherwise it seems healthy and moves around just fine.

Snake #2 is perfect looking just had a perfect shed last night! I have no concerns about this one besides trying to determine sex.

I have offered them worms and slugs, but nobody has eaten yet.

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Snake 1
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Snake 2
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[Jenjen79]

Here is a better view of snake 2 12716

[guidofatherof5]

Storeria dekayi- Brown snake. Not a garter but welcome on this page. These are worm and slug specialists. They can be trained to take extra small pinkies but scenting is usually required. Brown snakes are a wonderful snake. Some can be less hardy in captivity. Looks like 2 males to me. Be careful not to keep them too long if they won't eat for you. Winter is coming on and they need time to prepare and find a place to brumate. It's imperative they be released where they were found if they do get released.

ADW: Storeria dekayi: INFORMATION (http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Storeria_dekayi/)

[Rushthezeppelin]

We have another member on here who has a dekayi housed with a garter. They seem to do better in a naturalistic setup in his experience. He has it in a bioactive system (soil with bugs to cleanup poop and mold and create fertilizer for plants....basically as close as you can get to a mini-ecosystem in captivity)

[Eddie]

Very nice looking snakes. They look like 2 males to me also. Put a little snip into the front half of the worm with a scissor. I used to do that when I kept red bellied snakes. It makes the worm extra squirmy and usually gets the attention of the snake.
Good luck with them

[Jenjen79]

Thank you! I guessed that they looked like males, I think I'm getting better at this! :D

They are really awesome, and my plan was if I couldn't get them to eat by next week, I would return them to their exact spots.

I was looking into naturalistic setups and I will do more research on that. For the time being, I gave them the option of Aspen or bark, they seem to love burrowing in the Aspen.
I will definitely try cutting the worms.
Thanks for the help!

[guidofatherof5]

Get out and collect some slugs while you can. They also like the small pale earthworms. Rosy-tipped worm - Aporrectodea rosea

[boyer45]

Very nice specimens! I wouldn't worry about getting them to feed to much. When I caught my two adults I think it took about a week for each of them to eat. I just kept offering them something every few days and then left a worm in the cage. I love these little snakes, they are just so fun to keep. If you decide to keep them you will be in for some interesting and funny behavior.

[Mommy2many]

I also house my dekayi with my garters. She does very well with her friends.

[Jenjen79]

That's really cool that they can live together! Any precautions I should take before introducing them?
My garter is big in comparison, I'm afraid he will mistake them for worms!

[Rushthezeppelin]

Other snakes don't smell like worms (unless they are eating one of course) so it's perfectly fine. These guys live together under cover all the time in the wild. Just supervise or separate for feeding and everything will be gravy.

[Zdravko092368]

That's really cool that they can live together! Any precautions I should take before introducing them?
My garter is big in comparison, I'm afraid he will mistake them for worms!

I would just feed them separately to minimize risk as garters can be aggressive feeders and a brown would not be too hard for a garter to swallow. Personally I only have a runty male garter kept with my browns who is around the same size as them, I also have slightly smaller redbellied snakes with them as well. Redbellied and Browns seem to prefer slugs much more than worms in my experience while the opposite is true for garters.