Eastern Blacknecks favorite food??

[sschind]

As I was getting ready to leave town on July third I looked into the cage and saw my Eastern blackneck giving birth. they are a little over 2 weeks old now and they still haven't eaten. I've tried guppies, worms and chopped night crawlers and some sliced trout and I think only 1 of them ate a small fish. Is there anything they prefer. I've got toad puree in the freezer and I thought I would try that next but I figured if anyone here has bred them in the past they might know of some irresistible treats they would like.

[guidofatherof5]

How are you presenting the guppies. Sometimes babies won't go fishing. I've put guppies in a small round zip lock container with no water. I add a few babies and see what happens. The flopping guppies as a rule stimulate a feeding response. I separate out the eaters from non-eaters. The non-eaters get more time in containers with food. Worms amd guppies, what ever mix you want to use. Best of luck. My experience is with radix babies only.

[MichaelSmith]

My experience is kind of like Steve's as far as flopping fish goes. Eastern blacknecks are amphibian-eaters, largely frogs. They seem programmed to respond to abrupt movement, like a small frog jumping. When the fish flops, it's a similar kind of movement and it may trigger a feeding bite.

A stomach contents study of blacknecks (some years ago) says they eat amphibians and little else. I don't expect you'll have any luck with worms. Toad-puree, used to scent pinkie-parts, might work. Otherwise, live feeder fish are your best bet (unless you have access to small tadpoles or very small frogs).

[sschind]

Thanks,

I'll try it. Toad puree on halved pinkies didn't work but of course there was no movement. As I watched it did seem like they nosed around the mash a bit but didn't eat it so maybe it's got to be moving.

[GradStudentLeper]

You are in SE wisconsin in the summer, you should be able to go to a pond and net out some tadpoles, all you need to do is scoop along the emergent vegetation and algae.

As far as true frogs are concerned, you have bull frogs, green frogs, pickerel frogs, northern leopards, and wood frogs that you dont need to worry about as far as populations are concerned, and all of those should still have tadpoles in the water this time of year, or small metamorphs that the babies can eat. You also have chorus frogs, which are smaller, but I dont know if they are still breeding.

[MoJo]

I have had luck with putting feeder fish in a shallow glass dish like an ashtray! (These were bought new for this purpose.)

Many of mine have taken quite a long time to start feeding but then once they do do fine. Two weeks is not very long at all!

Congratulations and good luck with them.

[TwistidMutations]

All of my ebn eat live guppies the same day there born. try putting a few ina deli cup with the snake and see if that helps. good luck

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I always leave my babies go a for a day or two, and then I simply open up the tub or tank and throw some live guppies into the enclosure, allowing them to flop around on the ground. The important thing is to not disturb the babies at ALL before you do it. Just lift up the lid and throw them in there. They go absolutely NUTS!!!!

[ssssnakeluvr]

last resort, which I used on my orange eastern baby that didn't eat for a month....I made salmon puree, got a syringe, 18 guage catheter, and would tube feed the little one. after a couple feedings, he took off on his own.

[sschind]

Thanks for the tips people. I was hoping to avoid WC food and the flopping fish thing seems to work OK. 4 of them took down a couple of guppies but after reading Joanna's comment I feel better. I know I've had baby mountain kings go almost 6 months without eating and all was well in the end but I wasn't sure about the garters. This is my first batch of my own babies. I thought they would eat more but I was surprised at how much a single guppy can plump them up so maybe I'll just put in 1 at a time until they get going.

The toad scented fish was a real mess and the babies didn't go for it at all but all my adults got a nice treat.