Input on set-up welcome

[kueluck]

Still patiently (some times not so patiently) waiting for a eastern to cross my path one way or another, but in the mean time I've been gathering items for the viv. It has 2 hides, water dish, natural woods (cleaned & safe ) and a slab of slate to put the worms & some day pinkies on so as not to ingest aspen. I'm also watching to see how the temps are in this viv and so far night time is 65-70 and day time is 75-80 without a heat source, humidity 50%. So now for the experts input, what do I need to add or take away from this. It's a 29 gal long and I plan on tending to one male.

[guidofatherof5]

Looks good.

A heat source would be nice to allow for the best thermoregulating.
If you plan on feeding in the enclosure your choice of substrate could be a problem.
Ingesting it could cause a blockage.

[gregmonsta]

What Steve said - you might find that food items will get dragged off that piece of slate more often than not. Small sharp aspen shavings can cause havoc in small bodied snakes.

[kueluck]

What would be considered to warm? The plan is to use a 25 watt bulb for heat on the left side of tank since the hide is also flat on top I figure this would be good for basking on. I use this for my frogs and toads and it can bring the temps up to high 80's. FEEDING: I was going to feed with tongs as I do w/amphibians, or is it better to feed in separate container? SUBSTRATE: Would terrarium liners be better to use? Eco Earth? WARNING: I'll have a ton of questions on this since there are sooo many sites with “experts” on the web I figured the hands on people here will be the most helpful.

Looks good.

A heat source would be nice to allow for the best thermoregulating.
If you plan on feeding in the enclosure your choice of substrate could be a problem.
Ingesting it could cause a blockage.

[EasternGirl]

Well, if you are going to put the lamp on the left side that is fine...but then I would move the water dish over to the right a little bit more so that it is further away from the heat. I keep my temps on the warm side around 82-84 degrees during the day for my easterns and around 68-70 at night. This can be achieved with a bulb or a heat mat...depending on what you prefer, although I do find that garters do enjoy basking...so I have a UTH (an under the tank heat mat) and a lamp and I adjust accordingly...I also use a regular 40 watt light bulb during the day and a 40 watt red bulb at night and I actually use a thermostat set to turn the heat off if it goes over 85 degrees. Sometimes I do not use any light at night....just the mat. I also have a flourescent UVB strip light set on a timer. It sounds like with the temps that you have now...a 25 watt might be good enough for you though. As long as you have a thermometer to watch the temps...I would go with that for now. I also suggest getting a thermostat. The humidity sounds good. As far as the substrate goes, I use aspen, but I move my snakes into another tank with paper towels for feeding. Cee Cee is looking pretty big...chances are she is gravid...may have some eastern babies soon. I wanted to ask you...have you considered contacting a breeder to see about purchasing a captive bred eastern?

[kueluck]

I have a thermostat on each side and hydrometer in the middle. I'm going to the reptile show in May and if there are no c/b there I'm going to contact Scott Felzer in Raleigh. I really don't want to ship if I can help it. I just can't imagine the stress it puts on the animal. As for lighting I also have a UVB light now and will add a 25watt for heat to see how warm it gets

Well, if you are going to put the lamp on the left side that is fine...but then I would move the water dish over to the right a little bit more so that it is further away from the heat. I keep my temps on the warm side around 82-84 degrees during the day for my easterns and around 68-70 at night. This can be achieved with a bulb or a heat mat...depending on what you prefer, although I do find that garters do enjoy basking...so I have a UTH (an under the tank heat mat) and a lamp and I adjust accordingly...I also use a regular 40 watt light bulb during the day and a 40 watt red bulb at night and I actually use a thermostat set to turn the heat off if it goes over 85 degrees. Sometimes I do not use any light at night....just the mat. I also have a flourescent UVB strip light set on a timer. It sounds like with the temps that you have now...a 25 watt might be good enough for you though. As long as you have a thermometer to watch the temps...I would go with that for now. I also suggest getting a thermostat. The humidity sounds good. As far as the substrate goes, I use aspen, but I move my snakes into another tank with paper towels for feeding. Cee Cee is looking pretty big...chances are she is gravid...may have some eastern babies soon. I wanted to ask you...have you considered contacting a breeder to see about purchasing a captive bred eastern?