Getting Two Garters to Fish for thier own food??

[johndjdoe]

Bougth two checkered garters to eat my surpluse of guppies. (I breed fancy guppies. Easy mating and live babies make year long food for them. Supplemented with mice of course.)
The snakes were raised on frozen mice. I have gotten them to eat fish frozen and live but only when given to them. Any ideas/techniques to get them to fish for themselves?

[infernalis]

have you tried just leaving fish in the water bowl??

[RedSidedSPR]

I should breed guppies.

Yeah, try putting them in his water bowl, or put them in some sor of container with the fish. All my snakes snatch 'em out of the water no problem either way. The water bowl can get chaotic with multiple snakes though.

[Mommy2many]

What Wayne said ^^^
I think just guppies in a dish will do the trick.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Do they have a parasite risk?

[Selkielass]

Getting snakes started fishing çan be tricky- catching guppies is a skill, but most snakes catch on quickly.
Use a small, very shallow dish to offer the fish, with just enough water to cover the fish.

Crowd the dish- use a gatorade cap if only a few small fish are offered. Your snakes will first go for ones that jump out and flip around, then movement in the dish will attract their attention and they will have a go. As they learn to fish they will become more adept at catching fish in larger containers.

My most skilled fisher uses its own body to restrict the movement of the fish so they can be caught or forced out of the water to be caught, just like using a seine net to trap minnows.

All my garters seem to enjoy the sport once they catch the idea, but only Christmas, a w.c. Eastern, has the skill to chase down the last few elusive fish in a full sized water dish. Butlers are enthusiastic, but not very effective. My onyx checkered had grown so large that guppies are a scant mouthful, but still relished.

[Selkielass]

Do they have a parasite risk?

Tank raised guppies are as clean as the environment they are raised in.
So are pond raised fish, but control is harder

[Light of Dae]

Tank raised guppies are as clean as the environment they are raised in.
So are pond raised fish, but control is harder

You can also get cherry shrimp, they eat all parasite eggs that are in the gravel/sand and help keep the tank clean.

[ConcinusMan]

I think they would have a hard time baiting the hook and holding onto the reel.

But seriously, even though live fish aren't my thing (I don't trust that they are parasite-free or free of other harmful stuff) I see people on youtube do it all the time with their checkered garters. They just put live fish in the water and the snakes fish them out. The thing is, you don't want substrate sticking to it and getting swallowed.

[RedSidedSPR]

Used to be all I fed, but now, to Richards point, I just dot trust the lack of parasites in anything live and store bought, so I just feed frozen/thawed fish.. But if you're gonna feed live fish, it's definately fun to watch..