Hey everybody! I wanted to give a little backstory and ask some questions. I hope you don't mind!
Last October, my brother (who hates and is severely afraid of snakes) found a racer in the warehouse that he works at. He put it in a cardboard box, and brought it home to me. I posted on another forum asking for ID help, and I was told that it is an Eastern Yellowbelly Racer. (I'll attach pics to see if you guys can tell me if it's 100% correct.) I handled it to take pictures for ID purposes, and it was more relaxed than a corn snake. He didn't try flying out of my hands, and he never tried to bite. I was really surprised, because I've always heard that most WC Racers are very spastic.
I was advised not to release it until spring, so i've been brumating it in my (cool) back room. I've checked on it several times, and I always make sure it has fresh water. He's still alive, and seemingly doing well in brumation, so I don't think I have done anything wrong yet.
Now for my questions. If I decide later on that I want to keep it, what would the habitat and basic needs be? (i.e. heat, size of cage, humidity, etc.) Is there a care sheet that I can reference? Another question is, what do you feed them? He seemed really small to me - between 5 and 8 grams would be my guess. Another question is, would you keep it, or release it when it gets warm outside? What would you do? (I'm somewhat of a novice at snake keeping, so if this snake would be more difficult, then please don't hesitate to let me know. I've got a Black Milk and a Corn Snake, so that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge with captive snakes right now. I've only had snakes for about 6 months or so.) Has anybody had much success with WC Yellowbellies?
Lastly, could you help me ID this snake 100% please? I'm from eastern Kansas - this snake was found in Lawrence, KS (which is in Douglas County). I don't know if it could be anything else, so if I could get some help, i'd appreciate it.
Thanks in advance, and I apologize for rambling so much!

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