• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Habitat for a northern ringneck or northern brownsnake

QQQSSSI

New member
Joined
Jan 24, 2011
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Syracuse New York, U.S.
Hey everyone.

I'm trying to make a plan to set up a naturalistic vivarium for some type of small colubrid native to the northern states. Right now my two prime picks are either the northern subspecies of ringneck snake or brownsnake. Actually I'd really prefer a foxsnake, but damned if I can find those anywhere. This is for a classroom setup; I was also considering northern varieties of ratsnake or racer; but I feel like the racer would be too stressed out for that environment and space premiums might be an issue for a black ratsnake.

Anyway, I specify that this is for a classroom setup just to clarify that the more minimalist, easy maintenance setups that I and probably most other people have for their pet snakes is probably not going to cut it for display purposes.

So far I've identified two good picks for cage decor;

A "Bog" setup
http://www.carolina.com/mosses-live...e-bog-terrarium-plant-set/163620.pr?question=

Or a "Woodland" setup
http://www.carolina.com/mosses-live...dland-terrarium-plant-set/163860.pr?question=

The bog setup has the benefit of being suitable for carnivorous plants; which are themselves extremely interesting, but also come with the baggage of having a dormancy requirement which may be stressful for the snake, and an eternally wet, acidic, low-pH environment.


So for the questions;
1. Which setup would you prefer if you had to choose?
2. Can these species deal with the extremely wet, acidic conditions of a bog?
3. Does anyone have recommendations for a good bulb that produces both suitable light for plant growth and an appropriate amount of heat? I'd like to keep the wiring to a minimum.
4. Does anybody know of a good source for ringneck, dekay's brown, or fox snakes? Catching my own enters a legal grey area that, as a teacher, I'd like to avoid.


Cheers!
 
Late reply, but... Neither of these snakes are suitable for a bog environment. Both would eventually get blisters from exposure to excessive moisture. Mike Fedzen has a great page that discusses setting up a ringneck enclosure on his website. In most states dekays and ringnecks are not endangered and therefore can be field collected (in small numbers) without any legal issues. The only issue may be getting a WC snake to eat and thrive in captivity.
 
Back
Top