I was out with my friends today and someone said something about snakes and I went on a little rant about how not all snakes are venomous and yada yada yada. So my friend said that he would go find me a snake by the train tracks (Yeah hes not the brightest crayon in the box...) and about 5 minutes later I hear MATT!! GET OVER HERE I GOT YOU'RE SNAKE!!! So i sprint over there and hes pointing at a pile of leaves and saying "There it is there it is!!" and I couldn't see it so he poked it with a stick and I saw it and grabbed it. I got bit, so that solved one of my "problems" and it got all puffed up and was acting all "Badder than you" :greensnake: but didn't bite again. I took it home and got a tupperware container and put paper towles in it and got my Pearsons Field Guide to Central/East North American Reptiles and Amphibians and I.D.'d it. We were playing with it and my friend told me that the R.R. Company was gonna cut down all the trees and clear the area out so I decided to keep it as a pet. It is in a 10 Gallon vivarium and its gotta dirt substrate and a big water dish.
The specifics: It is 10 inches long.
It is a Midland Brown snake.
It has additude issues.
The questions: Who has kept these animals?
Is there any good literature on these snakes?
Do they need supplementation or special lighting?

What I've found out via google and some Govt. sites:
Eats slugs, worms, snails and goldfish.
Are mostly nocturnal.
Get between 9-15 inches long as an adult.
Are common and not legally protected.
Are Vivaparous and are in the Nerodia Family.
Is this good info?:dunno:

Thanks,
Matt

Matt, I've kept them in the past. They're hard to come by up here anymore. Don't know if they're in the Nerodia family but the rest of your info looks good. They'll do well on just worms but a varied diet is best I suppose. I don't remember if I tried feeding them crickets or not but appropriate sized ones might go over well.They don't NEED a big water bowl if you just keep the soil damp :D. Give him a small peice of bark to hide under. Because they are basically nocturnal I never used lighting of any kind. Good luck and have fun.

Ok. It just rained like crazy and I just got back from some hardcore worm hunting w/ a decent amount of worms, when it gets drier I'll find some slugs under our landscaping rocks. And they are so different than corn snakes! I hope I can get Indiana Jones to eat!

Yeah Its name is Indiana Jones! My friend named it haha.

Ok. It just rained like crazy and I just got back from some hardcore worm hunting w/ a decent amount of worms, when it gets drier I'll find some slugs under our landscaping rocks. And they are so different than corn snakes! I hope I can get Indiana Jones to eat!

Yeah Its name is Indiana Jones! My friend named it haha.

As long as it's hungry and the worm isn't too big it will eat. I never had a problem with that.

Ok. Thanks.

And how big is appropriatly sized?

Matt here a cool link...

http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/snakes/Kirtlands_snake/KirtlandsSnakeFactSheet.pdf

The worm should be no wider then the snakes head. They can get several smaller ones in one feeding. I hear they also like small slugs....I wouldn't feed it goldfish....most of the link is for the Kirkland snake but also has some info on Storeria dekayi wrightorum

Matt here a cool link...

http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/snakes/Kirtlands_snake/KirtlandsSnakeFactSheet.pdf

The worm should be no wider then the snakes head.

Thanks Frank:yes: I usually fed them red worms bought from the local bait store or fresh caught after rains, a couple inches long. Night crawlers are just too big. They'll normally only eat one, or maybe two, per feeding. I fed them every four or five days.

Cool thanks! It just ate a decent sized worm, maybe 3 inches long, so I'm relieved!

Cool thanks! It just ate a decent sized worm, maybe 3 inches long, so I'm relieved!

Any pic's Matt ????

Cool thanks! It just ate a decent sized worm, maybe 3 inches long, so I'm relieved!

It's funny watchin' em eat. The worm's pullin' one way and the snake's pullin' the other way :D

Any pic's Matt ????

No sry no pix. Later I will!

Ok today I'll get pix up 2day!

I fed it some worms and let him go in a safe place yesterday because he just didn't look right. Maybe I'll re-catch him later!

They never really do well in captivity... Years ago, I caught a tiny albino dekay but it never thrived...

Albino!?!?!?! Sweet!!!!