My Dekayi

akane · 10-18-16, 12:19 AM

Freebie in a large critter keeper.

Dekay's brown snake. I've been researching since yesterday. Haven't tried feeding anything yet but after an initial day of being irritated while I set up her enclosure she's been calmly cruising about and draping over her branch. This morning she investigated her led lights when they came on until she committed too much body loop and fell over backward. lol Definitely going bio-active with this setup and I may upgrade her to a 10 gallon but I'm not sure if it's necessary. The more square shape instead of narrower, longer 10 are probably fairly equal in sq inches of substrate but the longer space might make a better moisture gradient. A little over 24hrs into research I have not decided.

BobBarley · 10-18-16, 07:14 PM

Awesome! I've been looking for one of these, but they aren't native where I live and no one seems to sell them.

Cool specimen!

SWDK · 10-18-16, 07:57 PM

Hope you enjoy keeping your new friend.

akane · 10-19-16, 12:56 AM

I was told they kind of lost favor because they aren't very interesting in a plain, easily sterilized cage. Much of my info I've found has come from people who started keeping them when it was more common to bring in outdoor materials for reptiles and still keep a few around from nostalgia. They are native here (just barely south enough and have only seen one once) but I am unsure the legality of collecting any native snake species in Iowa.

macandchz · 10-19-16, 09:56 AM

very nice! good luck with her.

akane · 10-21-16, 03:12 AM

Apparently she won't eat mealworms. The store we stopped at last time had no fridge and this time had nothing but mealworms, superworms, and fruit flies. Seeing the mealworms did send her off digging around for other possible insects but I felt bad it was a pointless effort on her part. I need to stop at one of the other stores or asking the dogs to dig more holes in the backyard. Aside from potential runoff it's an organically run yard for many years before I moved in 3years ago.

Jim Smith · 10-21-16, 07:54 AM

You can also buy earthworms used for fish bait very cheaply (which is one of their main staples in the wild). I wouldn't buy red wigglers, but rather "regular" earthworms. You can even keep them in an old aquarium or other container and feed them bread etc. This would give you a constant supply of worms wince they will reproduce fairly easily for you. Just a thought...

travesty · 10-21-16, 10:33 AM

Get nightcrawlers or baby nightcrawlers if they have them from Walmart. If they're too big cut them into 1/4's.

akane · 10-21-16, 02:26 PM

No walmart is convenient and we don't shop at walmart if avoidable for personal views. There are bait shops with worms. I'm not sure if the feedstore still has some. I should have checked. One of the pet stores started carrying them. Otherwise I was going to get waxworms.