Miracle rainbow boa litter

Ok so today has been quite exciting. I have a argentine rainbow boa that I rescued back in 2008. She has been on a feeding strike for about 3 to 4 months now. Last week I got her to eat one live mouse (was on small rats). My wife called me today flipping out. The Rainbow boa has babies! I've heard of a sexual reproduction in boas but never thought I'd see it, until today. So far the count is 5 slugs, 2 still borns and 2 live babies. I wasn't ready for this but luckily I had purchased some stuff when I was about to breed my RTBs. I just don't know how long I should put them in with mom or take them out. But anyway, here's some pics of my miracle rainbow boa litter.http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-7afa-6d05.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-7b1a-1dbc.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-7b25-1299.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-7b31-0045.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-7b3d-b0d3.jpg

She looks like she has one more left so I'll leave her alone for now. I cannot believe this. Amazing!

Once she is completely done laying you should seperate them or else she will start to get really protective. Keep them moist, either another tub with moist paper towels or spagnum moss. Would also help to clean the mother off so she doesnt smell the result of child birth and leave her alone for a while maybe try feeding her tomorrow.

also Wait about 10 days or until after they shed to feed them.

Ok thanks man. Pretty much the same as RTBs. It's crazy because there was no male involved.

Could have had it stored up for awhile

I dont know. We rescued her on 2008 and has never been even NEAR another male boa. Guess life just finds a way.

Awesome! Truly a miracle!

Picture of one of the babies.http://img.tapatalk.com/addaf4b8-b6dd-c15f.jpg

No male since 2008?? :O She's been slipping out at night and running the streets

WOW. Either she kept some spunk for four years or you've got some immaculate conceptions going on there. You should nickname her Mary! :rofl:

That's awesome! Congrats!

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Originally Posted by rebelrachel13

WOW. Either she kept some spunk for four years or you've got some immaculate conceptions going on there. You should nickname her Mary! :rofl:

That's awesome! Congrats!

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Hehe You said spunk....

she must have been working the corner all day while you were at work lol
Congrats thats exciting though!
Its completely possible for a female to retain sperm for awhile. You said you "rescued" her so maybe before that she was paired with a male and didnt feel secure enough to lay at the time. Once shes been with you for awhile in a better environment it was safe enough for her body to release to sperm. Thats just my thoughts on it.

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Originally Posted by Lferg

Hehe You said spunk....

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Mature Club lololol :rolleyes:

That's true I know they can hold it for a while, but either way it was a major surprise haha I can't wait for their first shed and to get them to eat. Been watching their temps and humidity all night. Hopefully mom will eat tomorrow.

Hey guys just an update. Mom ate a small rat last night. I was feeding my ball and I guess she smelled the rat and came out of her hide so I said what the hell and gave her a eat. She lost soooo much weight. I feel bad for the stillborns and her. But we had NO idea she was expecting. Good thing she's eating though.

Usually they have a crazy appetite after giving birth.

She definitely does. She normally will only eat f/t if it's really warm and I work it around like it's alive. But last night I left it in the cage an she grabbed it am took it down. I'm just happy she's going to bulk back up.

So whats the final count from the birth?

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Originally Posted by Foxtuning65

Ok so today has been quite exciting. I have a argentine rainbow boa that I rescued back in 2008. She has been on a feeding strike for about 3 to 4 months now. Last week I got her to eat one live mouse (was on small rats). My wife called me today flipping out. The Rainbow boa has babies! I've heard of a sexual reproduction in boas but never thought I'd see it, until today. So far the count is 5 slugs, 2 still borns and 2 live babies.

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What is a "slug" in this context? i've seen this before but never knew what it meant.

Final count is 2 healthy live, 2 still borns and five slugs. Not very good numbers but we had no idea she was ready to pop. And a slug is just an unfertilized egg that the mom pushes out when she gives birth.

Very nice congrats :)

Wow this is pretty awesome. What a cool surprise.

Did you previously think she was a male or is she mislabeled in you signature?

Previously thought to be a male. I was old by the guy who left her in a box at a pet store that she was a male. (I tracked him down after picking her up because she had an RI) it's just unbelievable. I don't think the wife will let me sell them either haha

Truly a miracle snake! Also, total lol at the spunk comments

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Originally Posted by serpent fan

Truly a miracle snake! Also, total lol at the spunk comments

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That's exactly why she won't let me sell them haha

Becase shes a spunk hoarder...gross!

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Originally Posted by serpent fan

Becase shes a spunk hoarder...gross!

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Hahahahaha

Man, 4 years....
That's some funky spunk.

Yeah...mad funky :(

I doubt she stored sperm.. If she was never with a male then she's falls into this rare category..

If a Burmese at the Amsterdam zoo has done it for years now then who is to say your boa has not just produced her own clones of herself?

Check it out..

http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v9.../6800210a.html

"Parthenogenesis among reptiles is rare. Only a few species have the ability to reproduce asexually. Most of these are obligate parthenogenetic species that consist (almost) entirely of females, which can reproduce solely through parthenogenesis. Rarer are sexual species that only sporadically reproduce through parthenogenesis. A female Python molurus bivittatus (Reptilia, Boidae) from the Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, produced eggs in five consecutive years that contained embryos while she was isolated from males. These eggs might be fertilized with stored sperm, or might be the product of parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis has not been shown for the Boidae family before. We performed parentship analyses on the snake and seven of her embryos using microsatellites and AFLP. Four microsatellite loci developed for this species combined with three loci developed previously for different snake species revealed too little variation to discriminate between sperm retention and parthenogenesis. With AFLP we were able to confirm that the Artis Zoo female reproduced parthenogenetically. Because the offspring are genetically identical to their mother, whereas in previous studies on sporadic parthenogenesis in snakes a loss of genetic information was reported, we conclude that the meiotic pathways that produce the diploid egg cells are different."


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*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"

That's crazy. I have been contacted by a professor at NC State to do some testing to find out if it was parthenogenesis. It will be so cool they are. Looks like these two babies aren't going anywhere.

Woooow the plot thickens...
Parthenogenesis... amazing... looks like nature already beat us to the cloning game lol

Can you sex'em.....?......would be willing to bet they are both girls......

Congrats

Jason

Great news man

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Originally Posted by Foxtuning65

That's crazy. I have been contacted by a professor at NC State to do some testing to find out if it was parthenogenesis. It will be so cool they are. Looks like these two babies aren't going anywhere.

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OH OH I know
Dr Warren Booth
I was going to suggest contacting him as I know he has been working on the partho thing for a while now.

I have in fact been contacted by him. I'm not sure how long I have to wait to sex them but I'm betting both females as well. I will hopefully be sending him samples to find out what the deal is with them. It's getting exciting.

Awesome! Congrats!

Definitely either stored sperm or (check the offspring sex) if they're all females parthenogenesis! I'm glad someone mentioned this already. You should find out right away as this could be the first documentation of partenogenesis in ARB I believe. Really fantastic!

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Originally Posted by bioteacher

Awesome! Congrats!

Definitely either stored sperm or (check the offspring sex) if they're all females parthenogenesis! I'm glad someone mentioned this already. You should find out right away as this could be the first documentation of partenogenesis in ARB I believe. Really fantastic!

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I'm hoping it is! I'm going to sex them as soon as I get a chance. I'm not exactly sure how long I have to wait to sex them. Anyone know? I do t want to hurt the little ones.

Technically you can sex RTB or balls as soon as they hatch some wait a couple days. But Im not sure for rainbows because they are born a little smaller. I would think it would be ok but dont know for a fact.

Man that is so cool, congrats on the miracle babies!:D

Whaaat! Too cool man that is so exciting/really stressful. Good luck!

Craziest thing I have read all day! And today has been crazy :D

Congrats!!

I believe you can sex them now, as long as you do it properly.

Looking back on the post now, having only 2 offspring really couldn't prove parthenogenesis - you'll really need to do genetic testing to compare the genetic makeup to the dam. Although a male would completely disprove parthenogenesis immediately.

I'm going to try an sex them tonight. I will be sending out some samples to warren booth to figure out if this really is parthenogenesis. I'll report the sexes of the babies when I check to tonight.

This is sooo cool. I will definitely be following this closely. I'm very interested to see what Dr. Booth finds. :gj:

Wait...

Rainbow boas live birth? RTBs too?

Parthenogenesis is mad cool. Excellent story to share :)

I can't wait to hear from him. And I will sex the babies tonight to make sure they're both females.

Parthenogenesis! :O

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Originally Posted by meowmeowkazoo

Parthenogenesis! :O

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x2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maquT...feature=b-vrec

Wow, that's really cool. Make sure and keep us posted!

Sexed the babies by palpating them and feeling for hemipenes. Felt nothing. I did not feel comfortable popping them at such a young age. And I believe mom is a Guyana striped rainbow boa. Just like Ben Siegel had for auction a few weeks ago.

After they have their first shed you should pop them to be sure. They'll pop pretty easily at such a young age.


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*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"