Brown snake advice?

[essjay]

Hi,
We have a little wild-caught brown snake, and are having some difficulty getting him to eat. We've offered him worms and soft-bodied grubs, as well as aquatic snails, but he doesn't seem to be taking any of them. We're pretty sure he's subadult - he's very skittish and musks when handled, so we don't want to stress him out by trying to measure him. He does like to hang out in his fake plant and watch us though.

We're also wondering if we should be brumating him?

He's in a 5 gallon with reptibark substrate (though we're thinking of changing this for forest floor or similar) with a very small heat pad on one time because the room is quite cool - it keeps him at around 75C. He has a hide, a water bowl and a fake plant that he loves to climb in.

Does anyone have any advice?

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome.
What part of the country are you in?
How long have you had the brown(Storeria dekayi) ?
Worms are a main part of their diet. I would forget the grubs.
Any chance you can collect some slugs?

[ConcinusMan]

Lose the heat pad. They don't like it, or need it. Brown snakes are not your typical heat-loving reptile. This time of year, the snake should probably be brumating or preparing to brumate and that's probably why it's not eating.

I think Wayne is the "local" expert on keeping brown snakes. Maybe we should hear from him. http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/members/infernalis.html

[d_virginiana]

Can you get a picture of him? 5 gallons is a bit small. It might be stressing him a little if he's used to a much larger area.

[infernalis]

Sometimes they are fussy about worms, Little garden slugs are hard for a brown snake to resist.

Previous replies are correct, these little snakes like it around 60-70 degrees (F) so please don't try and use any cage heaters, they don't like heat.

[StrmChasr]

Sometimes they are fussy about worms, Little garden slugs are hard for a brown snake to resist..

This is very true. My brown cant get enough of them. I actually put up a video on here of him eating a slug.