Hi! I AM some what of an expert on this little beauty. I have one myself, a lovely little male, called Casey. And I DO keep him in a tank, because he just LOVES to go off wandering around the house, if we´re not carefull. :roll: For food I give Casey a weekly dose of one or two medium sized (approx. 4 cm long) goldfish, but we started him off on a guppy a week. Make certain that your cutey has plenty of water (I use an old lasagna ovendish), because the Keelback does need a little higher humidity than say an American Gartersnake. As for the venomous part: These snakes are non-agressive and rarely bite. One drawback: They do excreet a rather smelly kind of musk when they feel threatened. It really PONGS! And it does not clean off easilly.
For fun I regularly give Casey a bath. Litterally! I fill the tub for about a fifth with luke warm water (say 20 degrees Centigrade), keep my left hand over the overflow, my right one I dip into the water, so the little guy can have a rest on it, and tell my hubbie to get the snake. He gets a chance to really stretch out his little body and to dive down a bit. He can be in there for over an hour, before he gets tired of it. (I usually get him out earlier, because my arm will go numb from hanging down.) If you plan on doing something like this, make absolutely certain that there are no nooks and crannies, where your keelback can slip into, because it will! :wink: And also, logically, NEVER let it out of your sight! They are fast as fast!