Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a 10" DeKay's Brown Snake. I have learned quite a bit about this little critter tonight from reading the posts from the past few years on this forum, but I still have some questions to ask.

We have had Slippery for three weeks now, and he has eaten one worm. I have offered him a variety of foodstuffs, but I now know to remove the hard exoskeletoned crickets that will soon be overtaking the tank. He loves to hide under whatever is available. He has a branch on which to climb (if he even chooses to do do, being a burrower and all that), and a light that keeps the temperature between 75 and 79 degrees during the day. His water bowl is about three inches high.

I read about EcoEarth....is is acceptable to use dirt, or should I be concerned about mites, etcetera and purchase the substrate? He is now in a coconut substrate (since reading the forum I found out that he should have a moist environment.)

How should I feed him? The one time he ate I had to clean off a small portion of the aquarium bottom, put a worm there and gently nudge the snake towards the worm until he ate it. Should I put the worms in a bowl, or just let them burrow and let him eat them when he's down there?

How moist an environment should I have? Can it be dry or does it have to be moist?

Should I concern myself with him getting a fungus because of the moisture?

Does he obtain his water from a water dish (I read on the forum where it should be flatter than I have), or can he get his moisture from his environment and his food? He stands on his tail so he is almost as high as the side of the 10 gallon tank, so I know he can reach inside the water dish, but if I have to make the dish flatter, of course I will.

How often should I clean out the tank? I would think that a moist environment would need more attention than a dry environment.

I'm sorry for all of the questions, but we really like the little guy and I want to find out all that I can about him and his kind.

Thanks,

Tom

I had a dekay snake my neighbors cat caught. It was wounded so we kept him till he got better and he did in a few weeks.
The first 2 weeks he didnt eat due I think to his cuts. we treated him and kept them clean. He was kept on paper towels with hiding areas.
Than he began to eat he wouldnt touch crickets but loved eartworms and ate lots. After awhile we put him on dirt to see how he would do we used non chemical,fertilizer soil.
Its cheap and they sell it in garden stores,etc. he did drink from a small shallow water bowl and seemed to like the dirt tho ESU jungle mix is good to I think way better than lizard litter as it is real soil,moss.
Either way he was very easy but again only ate earthworms placed infront of him .
The soil only has to be thin like 1//4 to 1/2 inch. The worm will dig init if he doesnt eat it right away so you have to watch that.
After a few weeks think it was like 8 we let him go. It was late summer and good hot temp. He was released at night deep in the woods in leaf litter.
We released him because that was our idea when we rescued him. his cuts healed fine. He was secretive tho.
He did love his earthworms lol.
Lia