Newcomer Looking For Advice

[Ambaryerno]

Hello!

I live in a small apartment, and because my current space and schedule make a cat, dog, or ferrets impractical, have recently been considering getting a snake again. I've had a snake before (ribbon snake), but it's been quite a while and while I'm thinking about it I wanted to get some advice.

First of all, the type of snake I'd be looking at would be a garter, particularly a California Red-sided. I'd really like to do something special for the enclosure, and was recently looking at an article on NEHERP about planted terrariums.

What I'd be looking to do was build something simulating the bank of a stream or creek. I was thinking of using a 55gal that was 2/3 terrestrial, 1/3 water, and I was of two minds of how to arrange it: The first would be to put the water on one end, with the rest being continuous land. Alternately, I was considering having the water roughly in the middle, with land on either side so I could have the warm area on one side of the water, and the cool area on the other. Regardless of which approach I take, I want to give the water a mild current to simulate the stream or creek (there would also be a filter to keep the water clean).

I'd like to make it a planted vivarium with microfauna (springtails, isopods, etc.) to help maintain the enclosure and clean up waste. Really, the idea is to reproduce (within limits and reason) the snake's natural environment, as some of the reading I've done on the subject suggests that a naturalistic environment has a number of health and behavioral benefits for the snake.

The ribbon I had when I was younger had a pretty simple setup. He had his water bowl, a driftwood tree he could climb on and hide under, and a heat rock, so I've never done something of this complexity before. I've got an idea of some of the basics from the NEHERP article but I'm looking for advice that would apply specifically to keeping a garter snake. I'd particularly be looking for advice on how to create the stream/creek in a manner that wouldn't saturate the substrate.

Mice would probably be the main food source since that seems to be how most breeders raise their snakes, but I'd like to periodically offer some variety for engagement. One thing I'd love to be able to do is get a breeding population of rosy reds or another appropriate type of fish in the water part of the enclosure (note that they would be quarantined in a separate tank to weed out illness and parasites before actually being added to the habitat) both to liven it up that end of the tank, and to offer the snake a bit of variety in its diet between mice. At first I considered a crayfish or two for population control and to help keep the water clean, however I was concerned how this would affect the snake since wild garters will eat crayfish, and the claws could be a potential hazard.

Also, has anyone heard of someone successfully captive-breeding frogs as a safe source of snake chow? Some of the reading I've done as preparation for this has suggested that frogs would be the ideal over mice since that's the garter's main prey, if it weren't for the risk of parasites in wild-caught frogs. Captive-bred frogs would solve that problem.

So yeah, this is what I've been thinking about setting up, and could really use some advice on what would work, what wouldn't, and particularly how to go about construction and choice of plants.

Thanks in advance, and any guidance would be much appreciated!