If you obtain a tall 20 gal tank, place some clean branches inside for climbing. Substrate With gopher snakes, there are a couple of different substrates that can be used. If you use potting soil or pine chips, the urine and feces can be scooped out with a cat litter scoop, with fresh soil or chips added as needed. Temperature Gopher snakes have the same temperature requirements as corn snakes. To maintain health, the snake must be kept at 75-85 F, the higher temperature being necessary to digest its food.
Temperatures can fall to the lower range at night.
To easily monitor temperature, aquarium self-stick thermometers can be purchased and applied about an inch above the bottom of the tank on the warm side. They fluctuate too much, and too many snakes suffer severe ventral burns. You will need to reset the hours of operation to adjust for seasonal fluctuations in ambient air temperature. You may also need to create a basking place with an outside source of heat, such as a 60 watt light bulb in a reflector. Feeding An active gopher snake will happily eat every 10 days.