I keep seeing posts in which experienced keepers are getting all sorts of weird deaths. WTH? I've been lucky I guess. I lose a couple of babies every batch,(perhaps 3/25-50) but they usually die within 7-10 days of birth, or refuse to ever take their first meal within a month or so and die. Then after losing 1 or 2 of the smallest ones during their first winter rest, the remaining are always still doing well a year later in any case, but nope. No weird diseases or infections. If husbandry is not the issue I wonder if perhaps captive breeding is making some species more vulnerable to disease. I mean, many generations of captive breeding later, I'm seeing some snakes (not garters) where if 1/4 survive the first year under the best care, it's considered good.