Dekay's Brown Snakes

[Gene0514]

Hi everyone

Today me and my friends discovered a place near me that has a large population of eastern garters and dekay's brown snakes. I'm really interested in the brown snakes and am trying to get some good info on them. I especially want to know what is recommended for the tank setup. Do I need to heat it? I already know their diet of worms and slugs, and both food sources are abundant around here.
All the snakes we caught today, of which there were about 20-30, were very healthy looking and chubby. I'm gonna try to find a nice larger dekay's so that i won't have trouble with finding small food items.

Any advice would be great
Thank you

[infernalis]

First off, any "chubby" ones are most likely pregnant females.

They do not require any heat, they are a cool weather snake that prefers it to be right around 60 or so.

I have kept and bred quite a few, never used any heat.

what you chose to do is up to you, but by collecting pregnant females the population reduction is compounded tenfold.

2-3 can be kept comfortably in a ten gallon tank.

what you need is simply a water bowl and a place to hide.

chose your substrate wisely, use the big chunks of bark if you are going to feed in the cage, worms and slugs are sticky and fine substrate like coconut fiber or aspen will stick to the food.

[drache]

Gene
please do leave some of our local population intact
there is a reason why it's illegal to collect native snakes in NY, and I can't find a kind way to say how I feel about your actions
I have no problem with someone taking a snake to keep, but what you are doing is not at all cool

[infernalis]

Gene
please do leave some of our local population intact
there is a reason why it's illegal to collect native snakes in NY, and I can't find a kind way to say how I feel about your actions
I have no problem with someone taking a snake to keep, but what you are doing is not at all cool


Thank you Rhea...

[Gene0514]

I was only planning to take 1
I meant we found many snakes
not that we took them
Sorry for the misunderstanding

[infernalis]

I was only planning to take 1
I meant we found many snakes
not that we took them
Sorry for the misunderstanding

Thank you so much for clearing that up.:)

[Gene0514]

Np
I just realized my wording was off

So for just 1 snake, do you think a 5 gallon would work? Thats 16" x 8" x 10".
Would paper towel or newspaper be fine for a substrate?

[infernalis]

Np
I just realized my wording was off

So for just 1 snake, do you think a 5 gallon would work? Thats 16" x 8" x 10".
Would paper towel or newspaper be fine for a substrate?

A captive Dekayi will be somewhat active, I would only house a small male in a 5 gallon.

Cage carpet (sold at pet stores) makes a nice looking floor that will not stick to food.

You can get everything you need except the cage carpet at wal mart for under $30 (10 gallon tank $12, locking cover $7, hide & water bowl $5-7

I will be right back with some photos of setups that work well.

[Gene0514]

Ah ok thanks
The ones I've been finding have been about 8-9" max so I'll temporarily keep it in the 5 gallon, and then as it grows a bit, I'll get it a 10 gallon.

[infernalis]

Cage carpet, the hide is just the bottom of a foam cup.

http://www.thamfriends.com/photos/DKcup.jpg

My Xena (RIP) on her bark chips..

http://www.thamfriends.com/photos/snakies/xena.jpg

Using "Carefresh" (paper bedding)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/reptile3/reptile3-3/DSC03255-1.jpg

paper towels...

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=2&pictureid=23

and finally, a nice setup that a friend had... she loved her Dekayi so much that when she couldn't keep them anymore, she sent them to me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/reptile3/reptile3-3/DSC03846.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Great photos.
That Zena was a good looking snake.;)
Nice set-ups.

[RedSidedSPR]

I love dekays. I'm thinking about keeping one too.

[drache]

whew!
glad to find I misunderstood
you're a neighbour after all, and I'd like to think we're all cool over here (in Brooklyn a little more so, of course)
cheers

[Gene0514]

Thanks

I actually ended up taking 2
They're both really nice, and 1 already ate a small slug today.
I have them in the 5 gallon for now, but since It has a foam 3d background in it, it adds more usable space for them. I also have a cypress knee branch in there. I've seen them exploring around the tank already.
I need to get some better hides for them. All I have are some hides i made from plastic jugs. I'll see if I can find something better.

[Gene0514]

Here are some pics

FTS
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0783.jpg

Background
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0785.jpg

Hides, water bowl, etc
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0786.jpg

The snakes
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0788.jpg

[Gene0514]

And some climbing pics
I'll add some fake plants later

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0789.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t171/Gene0514/IMAG0790.jpg

[infernalis]

Nice, Thanks for sharing.

[snakehill]

Very nice! Don't know much about them. What do they require for care?:confused:

[d_virginiana]

Very nice snakes! Thanks for sharing :)

[infernalis]

Very nice! Don't know much about them. What do they require for care?

I just quoted the posts I already made on that subject. ;)



First off, any "chubby" ones are most likely pregnant females.

They do not require any heat, they are a cool weather snake that prefers it to be right around 60 or so.

I have kept and bred quite a few, never used any heat.

what you chose to do is up to you, but by collecting pregnant females the population reduction is compounded tenfold.

2-3 can be kept comfortably in a ten gallon tank.

what you need is simply a water bowl and a place to hide.

chose your substrate wisely, use the big chunks of bark if you are going to feed in the cage, worms and slugs are sticky and fine substrate like coconut fiber or aspen will stick to the food.


A captive Dekayi will be somewhat active, I would only house a small male in a 5 gallon.

Cage carpet (sold at pet stores) makes a nice looking floor that will not stick to food.

You can get everything you need except the cage carpet at wal mart for under $30 (10 gallon tank $12, locking cover $7, hide & water bowl $5-7

I will be right back with some photos of setups that work well.


Cage carpet, the hide is just the bottom of a foam cup.

http://www.thamfriends.com/photos/DKcup.jpg

My Xena (RIP) on her bark chips..

http://www.thamfriends.com/photos/snakies/xena.jpg

Using "Carefresh" (paper bedding)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/reptile3/reptile3-3/DSC03255-1.jpg

paper towels...

http://www.thamfriends.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=2&pictureid=23

and finally, a nice setup that a friend had... she loved her Dekayi so much that when she couldn't keep them anymore, she sent them to me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v260/reptile3/reptile3-3/DSC03846.jpg

[Gene0514]

Hey infernalis, how did you get yours to eat worms
So far 1 of the 2 snakes ate a slug yesterday and today, but neither are interested in worm chunks. Should i just wait a while before trying again?

[Mommy2many]

My Dekayi just started on worms all by himself. It may have been the competition he had with the garter boys over the slugs.:D

[infernalis]

Hey infernalis, how did you get yours to eat worms
So far 1 of the 2 snakes ate a slug yesterday and today, but neither are interested in worm chunks. Should i just wait a while before trying again?


My snakes took worms right away.

Just tonight the 2 Dekayi and 1 red belly ate several small worms each.

[Gene0514]

Oh ok
I'll just wait a couple of days before trying again with worm chunks

[infernalis]

Wal mart now sells "baby crawlers" (Juvenile Night Crawlers)

They are a much more appropriate size.

[Mommy2many]

I'll have to look for those today. How many come in the container?

[infernalis]

something like 32, but they are not true babies, hatchling crawlers are tiny, these are about 1/3 the size of jumbo crawlers.

[Mommy2many]

Still, more manageable for my Connor Snake than the gigantic nightcrawlers I get at Walmart now.:D

[guidofatherof5]

Wal mart now sells "baby crawlers" (Juvenile Night Crawlers)

They are a much more appropriate size.

I thought these worms would be less expensive since they are smaller and don't require as long a time at the company(less overhead cost)
I contacted DMF Bait when I saw they finally made them available.
Come to find out they are more expensive for less quantity. They don't sell them in bulk like they do the adult crawlers.
That didn't work out the way I thought it would.

[infernalis]

I thought these worms would be less expensive since they are smaller and don't require as long a time at the company(less overhead cost)
I contacted DMF Bait when I saw they finally made them available.
Come to find out they are more expensive for less quantity. They don't sell them in bulk like they do the adult crawlers.
That didn't work out the way I thought it would.

That's why I collect my own worms right now, but this winter it is comforting to know I can get easy food.

I put my Dekayi in brumation last winter to avoid the food hassles.

[Gene0514]

Just an update
The 2 dekays didn't eat well. I only saw one of them eat and that was only 1 tiny slug and 1 tiny earthworm. So I took them back to the lot where we found them.

Recently we were at the lot herping, and found a dekays that had half of one side of its jaw missing. Looked like a recent injury, so I took it home to make sure it was eating and to apply a bit of anti-biotic ointment. He's looking pretty good. He's becoming more active and now constantly flickering his tongue.

[Mommy2many]

Tongue flicking is a good sign. Thank you for helping him. Just so you know, I rarely "see" my Dekayi eat his food. Sometimes, when I get the right moment, he'll come and graze at the worm container. I know he eats though, cause he's been with us for almost 2 years now.

[RedSidedSPR]

Good choice.

Good luck with the injured one.

[InsanePirateDragon]

Alright, so I've come across a couple of baby Dekay's that I saved from a neighbor who found them over thinking they were baby copperheads (new to the area, thinks every snake is a copperhead or cottonmouth) and had tried to stomp them.

Right now they're both in a container 4.25" L X 7" W X 5.5" H with a half a toilet paper tube for a hide and a baby food jar water bowl because I'm scared that they'll drown.

I am looking for a 10g tank and screen to hopefully house them, and I've managed to find small worms and slugs to feed them, after the walmart gave me what he said was baby worms that turned out to be the red wigglers.

I'm not exactly sure of their age but they both are thinner than a pencil and about 5 inchs long, and one seems to be eating the worms while the other still hasn't settled yet.