Congrats!

My Northern Brown Snake gave birth to 17 babies! Should I release them?

WOW awesome... CONGRATS!
I dont know though! I would think you could!?!?!
You should try to get some pictures!

Where do you live? If the habitat is right for the babies, i would think you could but other wise i wouldnt advise it. By the way congrats on the babies.

From your other posts your female was wild caught from your local area and was gravid at that time?

If so there is no reason not to let the babies go near where you caught her if that is what you want to do,

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Originally Posted by jjspirko

From your other posts your female was wild caught from your local area and was gravid at that time?

If so there is no reason not to let the babies go near where you caught her if that is what you want to do,

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Alright, here's the whole story of how I obtained Europa: Someone who knows one of my friends caught an NBS and gave it to him. He couldn't keep it (because he already had a Bearded Lizard) so he gave it to me. So basically I have no idea where Europa used to live b/c I didn't catch her myself.

Here is some info for anything unusual about the babies: 1. Most of them are of average size but one is 5 and 1/2 inches long 2. There was one stillborn 3. One was born with a crooked neck! Is that a mutation? If it is, can anybody give me some info about it (like what it's called and what it means)?

OK I understand you don't know where it orginaly came from but do you know that it was locally caught? My point is if NBS are common in your area (I believe they are) you can let them go, no problem. That said it should be SOON before winter weather hits hard.

Now on the crooked neck. Not sure exactly what you mean but many times kinks be they in the neck or the back are due to developmental problems mostly related to tempetarture during incubation of eggs. Small as the eggs are I imagine you just found babies one day, right? If the temps got a bit low that could have caused the kink.

Anyway, there is not much demand for them in the pet trade, if you do want to see if anyone is interested you might try CraigsList to see if anyone wants them locally. I doubt anyone would pay any more then say 5-10 bucks.

I would let them go at least the ones you don't want to keep personally. I know a lot of guys that keep corals feed small snakes to them so the guy who wants them all may not be the best thing for them. Good thing to ask before you rehome them to anyone,

Browns give live birth.

John

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Originally Posted by SerpentesCiconii

Browns give live birth.

John

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Actually you are correct! I still wonder if temps can effect development in live bearing animals

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Originally Posted by jjspirko

Actually you are correct! I still wonder if temps can effect development in live bearing animals

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If the temperature does affect live births, shouldn't it affect more than one of the offspring?

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Originally Posted by MechWarrior

If the temperature does affect live births, shouldn't it affect more than one of the offspring?

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No, not necessarily. Think about it with eggs you have the same thing, all the eggs are in the same place and if temps get a bit high or low there are effects that can occur but they do not always effect all the young.

If it were me, I would euthanize the crooked neck animal and release the remaining babies unless you have experience raising that type of animal. They can be hard to get started feeding if you don't know what you are doing but out in the wild, they will find what they need to survive.

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Originally Posted by MPenn

If it were me, I would euthanize the crooked neck animal and release the remaining babies unless you have experience raising that type of animal. They can be hard to get started feeding if you don't know what you are doing but out in the wild, they will find what they need to survive.

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MPenn is probally correct on the kink. When they are in the neck the animal usually can't feed but I would not be sure of that with out seeing the animal. Many snakes with kinks do very well if the kink is minor and in the back but the neck is usually a very bad thing.

On feeding I have read accouts of getting baby browns eating so it is not impossible but again I agree you either get them eating or set them free asap. Winter is bearing down and they need to feed heavily and then get into burrows.

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Originally Posted by jjspirko

MPenn is probally correct on the kink. When they are in the neck the animal usually can't feed but I would not be sure of that with out seeing the animal. Many snakes with kinks do very well if the kink is minor and in the back but the neck is usually a very bad thing.

On feeding I have read accouts of getting baby browns eating so it is not impossible but again I agree you either get them eating or set them free asap. Winter is bearing down and they need to feed heavily and then get into burrows.

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What does "euthenize" mean? About feeding, Ganymede (the largest baby) chowed down a worm!