Prairie Ring-Necked Snakes

[tress29]

Has anyone ever kept one of these? I saw them on Kingsnake classifieds...

[guidofatherof5]

From what I've heard they can be difficult to keep.
Beautiful snakes.

[katach]

They are very pretty. I know nothing about them though. There is always wikipedia!
Diadophis punctatus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diadophis_punctatus)

[tress29]

Everything I've read makes it sound like more than I want to take on right now! Especially since I'm already planning a trip to the reptile show next weekend!

[katach]

They are mostly nocturnal, so my guess is they would be kind of boring to watch.

[RedSidedSPR]

I used to catch ring necks all the time they are awesome.

They eat snakes. Hard to keep.

Sums it up.

[katach]

They eat worms and salamanders and frogs too. They are very shy and mostly nocturnal. They can be active at twilight as well. (I'm just saying what wiki has on them)

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah they eat lots of stuff. You can get them to eat worms. But chances are, if you were to catch one, he would only eat snakes. Plus they would need snakes often for a good diet. I wanted to keep some them when i use to see so many so I read up on care... Just not the snake I want to keep.

[katach]

Yeah I agree. They seem boring and could never use a snake as a feeder.

[RedSidedSPR]

Love 'em though. He's one I caught last year.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b283/chucknkelly/wormsnake019.jpg

[katach]

They are very pretty.

[d_virginiana]

Hey, wasn't there a guy on here who used to raise ringnecks? I think he's the one who ended up with that white-sided water snake.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yup. Cant remember his name

[annulataarethebest]

What's up everyone?

Ringneck snakes can be difficult to keep or they can be easy to keep... They vary in difficulty between sub-species. Prairie ringneck snakes are mainly worm eaters, I assume they could also eat small snakes as well but the prairie ringneck is one of the smaller sub-species, I had a group of Striped ones a couple years ago and the adults were full grown at about 11". Very small. Prairies will thrive on worms, when caging them you'll need to keep the enclosure dry but provide a area of moisture that they can easily access so they don't dry up. I would also use this moist area as the place to introduce the worms... Eventually the snakes will be accustomed to finding food in that area and feeding will become much easier.

Some ringneck snakes are active, some will hide constantly... They may be nocturnal but even nocturnal snakes could be crawling around in the day time or while the lights are on. A basking light isn't needed and could end up killing the snakes, they would do fine at room temperature. You want the most escape proof cage you can find for sale, even then though the snakes could find their way out. I had an albino ringneck get out of a 10 gallon with a slide in lid... It's been 2 years and I still don't understand how. If you have any other questions let me know.