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.