New to banded sand snakes

[Noluk]

Back ground: I have a 30 gallon long tank set up desert biotope. Substrate is pea pebble , sand, and potting soil as I have some cacti and succulents. I have about a dozen death feigning beetles at the moment. The tank has drift wood, rocks and plants and am using a grow light which keeps the tank about 83 during the day and 74 during the night. My son in law is an avid "BUG" hunter and collects all sorts of critters. The other day he sent me a pic of the coolest little snake I've ever seen. Now I'm hooked on getting one and would like to know if I need to get rid of some the potting soil and add more sand and if it will easily assimilate to vacuum packed foods. Also, do they need a water source.
Thanks for any help you can pass my way
Noluk

[dangernoodles]

I have never heard of a banded sand snake, and there is very little information on them. It seems they are burrowers who feed on various insects, and keeping a snake from the wild is not usually a good idea, and I can't find any for sale online. It's unlikely you could replicate the animal's habitat, and people don't know a lot about the snake so it's behavior could be problematic if you are looking to handle it. However, if you would like to do research of your own and find a captive bred banded sand snake,go for it. I do not recommend keeping one, but you can go explore and take pictures of them if you would like.

Kenyan sand boas are pretty snakes who are also burrowers,like to be handled, so I advise you get one of those or another reptile instead.