What the...cannibalism on babies?

[DEKAN]

Well I saw one of my babies the other day, atacking others food and trying to catch from others mouths, well all of them swim on their own food...but no incidents till today.

Lucky I was around!.... I saw one baby eating another one... I mean not the tail, not a small piece, she had almost half of the other baby inside her, she didn't mind the size (not as big but very close)...so I tap the head and grab them...for my luck the other was still alive.

So I put the agressive one in a bowl, not a sign of eating, then I tried worms...the moment she saw movement that was the end of the worm, she attack very agressively, could be a explanation or it's just nature?

[Stefan-A]

Saw something similar last week with my new babies, but I managed to break it up before they actually started swallowing each other. One had half a pinky in its mouth and the significantly smaller one just grabbed the bigger one by the neck and refused to let go. Dumped them both in the water bowl and that stopped the fight. Haven't had any incidents since I started cutting the pinkies into even smaller pieces.

I suppose it's not a problem in nature.

[adamanteus]

Mine would fight over food all the time if I wasn't there to intervene. A couple of my baby radix 'locked jaws' last week, they were pretty difficult to separate too! They always seem more interested in what the other ones have, than whats in the dish.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I lost a quad het radix that way...eating a worm, one on the other end, ate half of it...was dead when I found it. that's why I generally separate the babies. not an uncommon occurrence

[drache]

I'm going to reveal what a complete control freak I am
I feed babies individually outside their enclosure by holding them in front of their food
there are never any accidents and I know exactly who eats what
of course that would never work, if there were a lot of them

[Josh]

I'm going to reveal what a complete control freak I am
I feed babies individually outside their enclosure by holding them in front of their food
there are never any accidents and I know exactly who eats what
of course that would never work, if there were a lot of them

exactly what i do rhea. It gives you more asurence then just a lump in there stomach!!!

[Snaky]

It is normal behavious. Garters are very interested in movement, so they will investigate it. As the other that moves is also eating, they smell just right and try to grab what he is eating. By accident they can eat each other that way.

Females can also easily eat males that way, so you always have to have a close eye if you feed them together.

[Sputnik]

As James knows (I phoned him in a right state at work last week) I had a pretty nasty experience with my corns. I had always fed them in the same enclosure but this time it went terribly wrong. I left them with the food and returned a couple of minutes laters to discover that one (Scarlett) had started swallowing the other! Both snakes are almost 90cm long and about 5 cm of one (Alex) had disappeared down the other one's throat. It was one of the scariest things I had ever seen. I screamed and cried and ran to the sink to run cold water over them, while holding onto Alex for dear life. I could feel he was still alive but I realised if I couldn't separate them I'd either loose them both or would have to sacrifice Alex and cut him, which I'm not sure I would have been able to do. Eventually Scarlett managed to "spit" him out but before I could check him, Alex slithered under the sink making it very difficult for me to hold onto him. When I got him out, he had the most horrendous cut across his head and neck! It was scarily deep and the side of his face was pushed forward. I cried, prayed and rang James. "Put him into a dark box, keep him warm and quiet for a couple of hours, go sit down, stop blaming yourself and have a cup of tea. I'll ring back in half an hour to check on you." Oh, great wise one, am I glad to know you!!!
Next day I put Alex into a brand new plastic box on clean kitchen paper, with a hide and waterbowl, dabbed the wound with very diluted TCP, gently tried to push the edges together (though they had already started to do that themselves!), added a couple of small steristrips and left him in peace. I check on him twice daily only as I don't want to stress him too much more but I can't believe how much better he looks already! It's quite incredible!

[adamanteus]

Great to hear he's recovering so quickly Esther. It's a really frightening thing to experience, isn't it?

[drache]

oh how scary
I'm so glad for you that it turned out alright