Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this guy gave me a couple of black racers. he found the eggs while doing some construction. on a cranberry bog and thought they were turtle eggs.. turned out to be snakes. he gave me three of them but i couldnt get them to eat. i fed them right after they shed the first time and wouldnt take anything... pinkies anoles salamanders crickets tuffys frogs worms nothing!! had the temps at 70-85 and housed them all in their own 5 gal tank each. they had clean water and hides. after 2 months i gave up and let them go in my backyard. dont worry they are native. what did i do wrong?

Sounds like your from the cape which would make them Northern Racers. They eat frogs, skinks, small birds, chipmunks, northern flying squirrels, snakes, mice and many other species. Invertebrates are normally found in juveniles, and rodents and reptiles are normally prey of adults.

It sounds like you did all that you could, many racers are just hard to get eating and some wont ever take food in captivity.

Thats just my advice, most likely someone with better racer knowledge should repley a better answer.
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Cameron

Baby racers are the single most challenging thing to get eating. Try this. Put all the racers togather. Get their temp up to 92F or a basking spot at 115F with a cool spot of 84F. Take guppy fish and grind them up. Scent 5 crickets that are the size of the racers head. Make sure the crickets can jump they key on movement. Put all snakes and crickets together. Don't bother them for a few days. They may try to eat each other. If one eats they all should eat. Post results.

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