[GarterGuy]

Hiya Stan,
I'm also a newbie here, but I have kept Dekays before. All the advice given was good, but here are some other tips. Make sure that you have a somewhat moist spot for you Dekay. The tend to dessicate very easily and if kept totally dry like most snakes do best in they may develope respiratory problems and/or problems with shedding. Best to have a hide for them that has a dish of moist sphagnum moss (you can pick it up at most gardening stores or some petstores) under it. Keep the rest of the tank dry and this should be enough to give them the moisture they need with out any problems from having excess moisture in a captive environ. Also unlike garters, Dekays are not real sun warshippers and may not bask under a bright heat lamp....so make sure there's a hide for him under the heated section as well and I also used the red heat bulbs too, as this seemed to be to there liking. As far as the wattage, a 60 watt should be sufficient unless you've got a really cold house. Oh and you're better off having a flat basking surface for you Dekay then a branch....they tend to be rather secretive and although the will climb around on stuff in the tank...they feel most comfortable on the ground.

Hope this helps...Roy