Puget Sound babies - favorite foods?

[DrKate]

Thanks Tami, that's very kind. I haven't got the babies yet, I'll probably get them this weekend (and post pics, I promise!). By any chance do you (or anyone else in N. CA) know a source for *baby* guppies (or other feeder fish)? The only feeders I can find are goldfish, which is kind of surprising, and they're all at least 3/4 inch long which might be too big.

I got some adult guppies from the pet store today so hopefully I'll have fry before too long, but it would be great if I could get some ready-to-eat size sooner than that.

-Kate

[jitami]

Kate, I'm up near Sacramento, but had absolutely NO luck finding commercially available guppies here. I eventually picked up some adults from an individual who wanted to thin her group down. Fry do come fairly quickly, but take some time to get big enough to feed. Couldn't hurt to try Craigslist.

Goldfish aren't good choice, especially for babies, because of thiaminise issue.

How old are the babies now? Have they eaten anything at all yet?

[Snake lover 3-25]

welcome to the forum!

[skysnake]

no expert here, um push tails not working. I have to 5/6 yr old alb somethings first year hardly ate a thing. just trying to breed on their own now. do you know who sells and ships puget sounds?

um brad , would like to hear what works

good luck

[DrKate]

I just picked up the Puget babies today! Here's a pic of one of them (his brother headed directly for the humid hide box so I decided not to bother him). About five weeks old at this point. I got some free guppy fry from Petsmart ("not in the system yet" and likely to just get eaten, so they don't charge for them). AND one of my female guppies was preggo when I got her. So I've got plenty of guppies as soon as these guys get settled in and hungry.

[DrKate]

Quick follow-up for anyone who might be searching in the future... These boys went right for inch-long worm pieces and for 1/2" to 3/4" guppies in just a few drops of water in a small dish. One of them did successfully hunt a few guppies from a dish with deeper water. They showed no interest whatsoever in some mouse pinky legs and tails, even scented.

BUT, here's the surprising thing... After they were eating 1" guppies or so, I tried a pinky cut in quarters lengthwise (i.e. into long strips), scented with worm slime. I wasn't optimistic that they'd take pre-killed prey, but they went right for them. Next time I tried unscented pinky quarters, and they were just as enthusiastic. They seemed especially interested in the exposed guts. Maybe it's just because they're babies and haven't developed preferences yet, or maybe Pugets frequently take mice in the wild, but they definitely knew it was food.

So, to the list of baby Pugets' favorite foods, I'd add... unscented cut-up pinky mice!

[drache]

congrats
you never know what they'll go for