New little snake

[Shelby]

Well when I got to work today they said there was a snake for me. Apparently a family had gone to Iowa and the kids smuggled this little girl home. Well, I guess mom didn't think she was so cute, so they dropped her off at Petsmart. Guess who took her home?

Yeah, me. I searched online and found out that she is a brown or Dekay snake storeria dekayi. Wild ones eat insects mostly, so I will see if she wants some tasty cricket or worm.

She was quite dehydrated when I first saw her. I gave her some water and she drank for about two full minutes. About an hour later I gave her more, and she drank another minute.. then a bit later she drank a third time for another 30 seconds or so.. thirsty snake! She's now in a shoebox (with a nice deli cup of water) and some flexwatt. Not sure if she needs supplemental heat, but it can't hurt.

Anyone know how often I should feed her and how much? I haven't kept a snake like this before.

[mr~python]

i would try slugs, worms, and crickets every 3-5 days and see how that works. i have no idea how much to feed her though, sorry.

[4theSNAKElady]

I would try a small shallow dish with some feeder guppies......can't hurt. Or, some small/med crickets.

[Shelby]

Ok. I will try crickets since that is what I have on hand right now. I'll let her settle in a few days first.

[basuca]

that sanke look like a groun snake we have here!! I have one of does one's and it eat little anoles

[Shelby]

I'm sure it looks like lots of other snakes.. it's pretty generic. lol She's real cute though.

Would small rosey red feeder minnows be ok? We don't have feeder guppies at petsmart.

[JLC]

Pretty little thing! Wish I could help with some info, but I'm clueless about those tiny species. My only guess would be to keep any supplemental heat at a minimum as colubrids in general don't seem to want or tolerate as much heat as boids do.

[jknudson]

Most colubrids found in the SE Minnesota and Iowa area don't need too much supplemental heat. This time of the year there are still several days at 50F, so they are quite used to the cold.

The feeding aspect I have no clue on, I suppose it would be like any snake, and eat when food is available. If it is a cricket eater with the occaisional fish I would say every 4 to 5 days.

Quite a cute little one! Good luck!

You definitely correctly identified it as a (Northern) brown snake and Storeria dekayi dekayi...I found it in my Peterson Field Guide for Eastern/Central North America. Always a helpful tool.

-Jason

[Shelby]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll take her off the flexwatt I guess. The ambient temps in the quarantine room run around 70 degrees.

[frankykeno]

She's a little cutie. Just wondering in the second picture right by your fingernail...is that mark a little injury or is it just too late at night and my eyes are going wonky on me?