Dekay's Brown snake

[David339]

How are these in captivity? I recently found one in the yard cleaning up some old boards. This appears to be a young one, it is 6-7 inches and looks to have a slightly yellowish band on it's neck. The body is brown with what looks like two black stripes down it's back but they are actually black dots running in a line. This guy seems less skittish than the northern ring-necked snake I have. I'm debating on whether to keep him or let him go. My northern ring necked snake is supposed to be horrible in captivity but he's doing great. I was warned that it'd be more or less a tank of leaves and that I wouldn't see him much but he's out quite a bit and even cues or begs for food. He definitely gets plenty. From reading these two snakes seem kind of similar. My northern ring necked snake however is definitely more skittish and jumps from hands etc. The Dekay's does not.

[Bandit]

The care will be similar to that of the ringneck. If you are having success with the ringneck, you should do fine with the dekay's. Just keep in mind that you always run a chance of having WC snakes (especially fossorials) not doing well in captivity.

[David339]

Thanks. My success with the ring necked is due to not handling him. He's pretty jumpy with anyone else but me around. I have some WC animals already... I work in land surveying and sometimes I find an animal I'm interested in and in a place where they are clearing for housing. In those situations the animal is going to have a very small chance of surviving so I take them in. Not the case with the Dekay's. I'm still debating on keeping or letting it go. If I did keep it, it's at a young age and would adjust better. I found it at home so I won't have far to go to release it if I go that route. I already have one tiny snake (17 inch from the shed I measured) so I don't know if I want another small guy. The fact that the Dekay's wasn't so shy and skittish as the ring-necked did peak my interest though. The dekay's is about the size of a quarter all coiled up. These snakes aren't just an aquarium full of substrate as I was told. I see plenty of activity.

[Andy_G]

That's great to hear that it is doing well.

Just an FYI, shes can be much longer than the actual snake, and they are by no means ever a reliable way to measure a snake.

[David339]

It's a little easier to measure the shed. The dekay's shed for me, it measured 8 inches. I have decided to keep him/her. I believe he ate a slug for me but I wasn't able to witness it. I doubt the slug crawled away in the short amount of time I left it and the snake alone. Once I have him out of the plastic container he's in and into a 10 gallon aquarium observation should be easier. The container is bigger than a 10 gallon but not as secure, luckily he's too small to escape it. Hopefully he will start on a feeding routine like my ring necked. My ring necked will be peeking out from under leaves and watching me.. he has a certain way he acts and I'm able to tell he's asking for food. He will almost take the worm from my hand.

[David339]

The dekay's is doing great and already identifies me as his food supplier. He's eating regularly for me and acts very similar to my ring-necked snake. These snakes aren't nearly as shy as the ring-necked.

[ClockwerkBonnet]

That's great, David! Feel free to let us know if you need help with anything.