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.



My Xena (RIP) on her bark chips..



Using "Carefresh" (paper bedding)



paper towels...



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.