Introducing Speckle

[drache]

cool
so how many are there?

[guidofatherof5]

cool
so how many are there?

Small clutch compared to the weight she put on. 16 was the grand total. No stillborns or jellies.

[anji1971]

Has she had other litters before Steve, or is this her first?
They're so darned adorable!

[drache]

Small clutch compared to the weight she put on. 16 was the grand total. No stillborns or jellies.

at that size i'd say 16 is a good number

[reptile3]

Awesome Steve... they look great!!! I bet they can't wait to eat!

[guidofatherof5]

I offered them their first food, cut-up earthworms. There was a lot of interest but only one started eating. She ate 4 pieces. I will offer food everday for the next few weeks. I'll separate out the eaters. They are very active and all seem healthy. Hope they all make it.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

You will see noticeable interest in food soon enough very few of them eat right away, but once I had a baby eastern that wasn't even an hour old start eating!!!

[guidofatherof5]

You will see noticeable interest in food soon enough very few of them eat right away, but once I had a baby eastern that wasn't even an hour old start eating!!!

I usually wait 3-5 days but decided to try something different. Hoping to bridge the gap of time as it relates to any possible eaters and those failure to thrives that occur. Hoping with the failure to thrives that there is a small window of oppotunity that I might have normally missed. Trying to up the survival rate.
Still I have that nagging questions about why some fail to thrive and its possible relationship to fertilization order and incubation time. Not sure I will ever get an answer but I sure think it's a plausible reason for failure to thrive. Late fertilization and shorter incubation time may translate into a lack of time to develop the part of the brain responsible for the eating drive. Kind of like premies that have to be on a respirator until their lungs develop. Maybe these snakes with failure to thrive are just premies. We have all seen plenty of underdeveloped stillborns and live borns. Maybe these little one are just shorted the time to develop their brains.

[drache]

in nature, not all are likely to thrive
and the lion does not lie with the lamb
so your babies are fortunate to have a captive personal god to take care of them

[guidofatherof5]

Speckle is back to eating. I think she would have eaten the day she gave birth but I gave her a day to rest her belly. Now, it's back to eating like a pig. 6 pinkies and wanted more.
Here's another look at the little scrubs.