2020 Plains Garter Litters

I had two litter of garters born recently. :)

Leeloo had 19 babies and 0 stillborns on 8/2. So far they've taken earthworms and silverside pieces, but I haven't been able to get them to take any rodent parts yet. I tried offering the ASF feet/tails together with the worm pieces on platter, but no luck. I'd scent with fish, but most of the litter isn't a big fan of it. I've been thinking of getting those frog Reptilinks to try them on, and see if that will help get more to eat on feeding days. The most I've gotten to eat in one day was 17, but it jumps around each feeding day.

Summer had 25 babies and 5 stillborns on 8/7. I could see she still had babies in her after the initial birthing, but after 3 hours she still hadn't passed them. I didn't feel any when I palpated, but I'm not experienced with palpating gravid snakes. I figured she was done, or would pass the others on her own time, so I left her alone. Well, 2 days later she gave birth to another 4 live babies, and another stillborn. :O She continues to do well and is getting her appetite back: Lee also took a few days after birth to get her appetite worked up.

Here are some of Lee's babies freshly fed.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/xsiezSk.jpg

And one of the babies doing what it does best: climbing up the tub walls. Summer's babies don't seem as inclined to climb the walls to sit on the handles as Lee's babies are. I have yet to see any of them hanging out up there, but they do love magnetic vine I put in there.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/y5V0Iay.jpg

I'll try to get some pics of Summer's babies here soon, there's one baby in there that has a really interesting color to it. Brighter than any of its siblings, and slightly faded looking.

Yay!! thats healthy litters. They are eating machines once they start.

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Originally Posted by royzft201

Yay!! thats healthy litters. They are eating machines once they start.

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I’m really hoping to get them there, I only got 13/19 of Lee’s babies to eat yesterday, and that was the feeding day after my record high! I’m feeding them every 2 days, wonder if I should step it down a bit?

I managed to get 3 more of Summer’s babies to eat yesterday than last time, but that litter has only eaten 3 times so far. I also noticed during that feeding one had a hard lump, and another one seemed pretty limp but it ended up eating and hopefully will perk up. So I’ll have to keep an eye out and see if any get any worse.


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Most baby garters are more concerned with hiding that some of them are slower to feed than others. If you separate them into their own container or even just two per. They will have more confidence and be less distracted about safety. Lol. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Most baby garters are more concerned with hiding that some of them are slower to feed than others. If you separate them into their own container or even just two per. They will have more confidence and be less distracted about safety. Lol. Good luck.

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Yup, I put them all in their own deli cups. :) Most will eat before I’ve even got everyone separated out, and I put them back in their respective tubs once I’m done “cupping” everyone.

I even leave the room and let them do their thing for at least 30 mins, but still have spotty success. So far a handful of them will take cut up silversides, but the majority turn their nose up at it and prefer live squirming prey. Even after heavy scenting.


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That's so cool, congratulations, good luck with getting the rest eating soon

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Originally Posted by richardhind1972

That's so cool, congratulations, good luck with getting the rest eating soon

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Thanks! I’m glad most of them are eating at least, just those couple of stubborn ones.


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I got every single baby to eat this time, offering live rosy reds. I know they’re bad, I just needed to make sure every baby has eaten. I called everywhere and could not find feeder guppies/mollies/platys, the typical $3/fish is just too expensive to justify. But afaik, one meal should be fine as far as thiaminase goes.

The one baby that had a blockage managed to pass it, but it’s in rough shape. The other baby I was worried about seems up to speed now. I force fed the blockage baby a tiny silverside piece last night, and it seems to have perked up. It was able to crawl around at least. I gave it a small worm piece coated in calcium today. Keeping the meals small, and hopefully it will bounce back. It had enough energy to actually squirm around this time! I still don’t have high hopes for it, but I’m trying to give it a chance.

Here’s that unique baby I really like. It’s really hard to get that right amount of lighting to show how bright it is.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...10dfbcf5a8.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3c927012ed.jpg

And a cell phone pic from a few days ago next to a typical littermate. There are a few other bright ones, but they lack that faded look to the background this one has.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d6ec864523.jpg


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Well the little runt is hanging on. I’ve been force feeding him small pieces of worms or silversides daily. He seems to be digesting them pretty quick. He moves around the tub like the others, he’s just a lot weaker than they are. He went from being a wet limp noodle to starting to put up a fight though! His belly also went from being caved in to starting to have some meat to it. He just isn’t making as much progress as I’d hoped, so we’ll keep at it unless it seems best to put him down. He almost had me today, thinking he was going to swallow on his own. -.- I’m assuming male, as the tail looks quite long.

I’m still in the middle of feeding, but I got 3 of Summer’s babies to take fish-scented ASF parts by themselves! Then another 2 ate some once I added worm pieces.

Oh, also the poss het T+ trio arrived today, but I’ll wait until they eat to get pics. :) They’re bigger than my babies, but that’s to be expected since they’re likely a lot younger.


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Some group pics of that baby while I had them all together for cleaning, to show how much it stands out in the crowd.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/VZH5ind.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/xz80OjD.jpg


I got 1 of Lee's babies to take a piece of ASF the other day, but didn't get any other takers. Total of 6 babies that have taken rodents so far. I'll be trying every feeding now that I know at least some will take it.

They look awsome, glad they all eating

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Awesome thanks for sharing, great job. Best of luck!

What a beautiful little bunch! But you're right - the stripes on the one baby nearly glow.

The runt swallowed on his own!!!! This is a huge step, I hope he can keep this up, and then get to the point I don’t have to assist feed either.


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That's great news

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The runt is continuing to swallow on his own and do well. He's slowly starting to fill out and look like his littermates, though he's still very tiny. Now that he's swallowing on his own, I'm feeding him more per sitting, and moving him out to every 2 days.

I've also learned how to pop, and the majority are still eating ASF parts, so I'm going to separate the ASF eaters and may start making them available soon. :D I'll keep the pickier eaters back with my holdbacks until I get them switched.

I think I’m going to start selling babies here soon. [emoji16] Separate all the picky eaters, and the few that won’t eat ASF (as well as holdbacks), and sell the rest. Clear a few out.

I still have 5 that refuse to eat anything other than live fish, I’m not sure how to get them eating other food. I’ve tried assist feeding but they’re way stronger than the runt and just spit it back out, and I can’t get force feeding to work either. It’s very difficult to find feeder fish small enough for them, especially anything that’s thiaminase free and not $3 each. There is a feeder guppy supplier but they’re out of guppies so I’ll have to try them next week. I’m worried they’re going to starve. [emoji26] I usually get enough for 2 feedings at a time because I can’t feed the fish or set up a tank for them to survive long term, but the last 2 times I went looking for feeders nobody has had any.

Next time I can get feeders I’ll keep going at the scenting bit, but I expect that to be a long difficult road. Took me 3 months to get Draco off guppies when I first got him.


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Unfortunately food did not come soon enough for 2 of the live fish eating babies.[emoji17] I tried force feeding them, scenting, everything I could think of, but none of it worked. The runt is still going strong, however. Still not eating on its own, and it’s gotten to the point it’s strong enough to spit food back out so I’m back to massaging food down its throat.

I’m getting ready to feed the babies again today, and hopefully that means just 2 will need guppies this time. Most everyone else will eat worms even if they aren’t taking ASF pieces yet.


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One of the live fish eating babies accidentally grabbed a worm last time, and one of the fish eaters this time actually ate everything in its cup!!! Most of the other fish-eaters have also eaten at least either the worm pieces or the ASF piece given to them. So maybe I can stop buying live fish soon. [emoji41]

My holdback continues to be finicky, but is nice and chunky and growing quick. Every other feeding it just doesn’t eat, but every time it does eat it eats everything in front of it.


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I'm so sorry you lost a couple of little ones; it's so hard when all you want them to do is just eat. It sounds like things are going fine with the others, which is great. Garters seem to be enjoying a well-deserved uptick in popularity, so I'm sure you'll have a good response when you are ready to sell.

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

I'm so sorry you lost a couple of little ones; it's so hard when all you want them to do is just eat. It sounds like things are going fine with the others, which is great. Garters seem to be enjoying a well-deserved uptick in popularity, so I'm sure you'll have a good response when you are ready to sell.

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I've already got 7 claimed, plus I plan on keeping maybe 2 or 3 of them myself. I have yet to post the rest up for sale online as I was hoping for some bites locally. I'm working on getting shipping figured out, as I'm encountering some technical errors, and after that I'll post them up on online. lol

I unfortunately ended up deciding it was best to euthanize the runt end of Sept. I also lost another one of the fish eaters at the same time. :( It ate 2 or 3 meals and was still losing mass so I decided to euthanize it before it died on its own. That brings the total up to 4 dead. The rest are healthy, eating on their own, and getting less and less picky! Not bad odds after hearing how delicate babies can be.

I have nearly everyone eating unscented ASF parts now, some just need to be left alone for a few mins. So that’s a relief, and saves a lot of time. I also shipped off 7 babies so far, so the herd is starting to thin.


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Sorry you lost the runt and the other 3 in total, Cloud.

Glad everyone else is doing well!

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Originally Posted by dakski

Sorry you lost the runt and the other 3 in total, Cloud.

Glad everyone else is doing well!

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It’s an unfortunate reality of breeding. I was prepared for more losses, but I am glad that isn’t the case yet. I’m hoping being at the 2 month mark I’m past the worst of it and everyone else will grow up strong and healthy, I usually hear the first month is the period where most fail to thrive.

Last feeding I got 2 more babies to eat unscented ASF! So hopefully this next feeding I can get one or two more. My holdback unfortunately was one that insisted on the worms, but that’s ok. Freya is still not eating rodents, either, so they won’t go to waste. I’ll just have to start buying one pack instead of two. Lol


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Hope the rest keep doing well for you. Tough to lose even a few.

Just a little update. The holdback I took photos of at the beginning of the thread still refuses to eat anything but earthworms. Last feeding, it took a half of a mouse pink, but I think it just missed the strike. :rage: I've only lost one since the first few failure to thrives, and it was totally out of the blue since they're 4+ months old now. I'm quite glad they're eating halves now instead of chunks. Easier to give everyone organ meat, and it saves a tooon of time vs waiting for them to find every little chunk. Except for when they go into shed, only the one holdback is refusing rodents now. My two 1:5 ASF colonies just couldn't keep up with the garters, so I had to start ordering pinks instead and they take the mice a lot more reliably.

Here are some of Lee's remaining babies.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...ur.com/Q1rqD1rhttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Q1rqD1r.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/y4SNr9Y.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/s3lVk9f.jpg

Babies are going through another shed cycle, caught this one during a tub cleaning day between feeds. :)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/cJqwUH2.jpg

And some of Summer's babies, they're starting to catch up in size now that they aren't so picky.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/K9wQRg3.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/MciQi7V.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Cx8vSp4.jpg

They're all so darn cute! :love:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

They're all so darn cute! :love:

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They truly are! And as they get bigger, it's getting easier and easier to see the differences in their appearance. My T+ trio are on the cusp of taking whole pinks now - they're eating 3+ pink halves each and I'm getting ready to try whole pinks again - so if these babies follow in their footsteps it shouldn't be long once they're on whole pinks, too.

It's a nice relief when they grow up a little more.

Really glad they all doing so well.
They look awsome

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