2011 Checkered Garter babies

[ConcinusMan]

Shoot, Shannon, it happened every time I wasn't quick enough to stop them. When you get them interlocking mouths and sinking each other's teeth into the inside of their mouths, it gets infected and swells up, every dang time. A real PITA to treat too.

All I'm saying is that if your babies are starting to fight, I would feed them separately. The fighting will only get worse from here on out. If I didn't feed my concinnus babies separately after the first few meals (they are OK at first but then later they start fighting) they would rip each other to shreds.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Shoot, Shannon, it happened every time I wasn't quick enough to stop them. When you get them interlocking mouths and sinking each other's teeth into the inside of their mouths, it gets infected and swells up, every dang time. A real PITA to treat too.

All I'm saying is that if your babies are starting to fight, I would feed them separately. The fighting will only get worse from here on out. If I didn't feed my concinnus babies separately after the first few meals (they are OK at first but then later they start fighting) they would rip each other to shreds.

wow that's bizarre! I have seen TONS of fights over the years... right down to the interlocking mouths and bleeding and two snakes with hurt ego's afterwards... yet I never had anything come of it! I understand why it happens, but why it has never happened to me is puzzling. I have feeding techniques pretty down pat now, to the point where I don't have many fights anymore thanks to my patented "speed feeding" technique

[Sonya610]

Shoot, Shannon, it happened every time I wasn't quick enough to stop them. When you get them interlocking mouths and sinking each other's teeth into the inside of their mouths, it gets infected and swells up, every dang time. A real PITA to treat too.

Well your prior warning put the fear into me! I am busy stessing over 2 things during feeding time a) they will bite each other and cause some massive infection and b) one will go crazy and leap out of the enclosure (even with the cardboard barrier).

If statistically the nips are NOT a problem (and they have never actually nipped at each other that I could see, lots of tongue flicking and high drama though) maybe that is one concern that I can relax about. I will bet on good immune systems that can handle the odd bite, as the stress of separating them is probably taking more years off my lifespan than theirs!

Will continue to be careful and if a bite happens and an infection occurs will learn the lesson. I think scarying one off in order to appease my fear of food fights is probably causing more harm than good otherwise.

[Spankenstyne]

Well your prior warning put the fear into me! I am busy stessing over 2 things during feeding time a) they will bite each other and cause some massive infection and b) one will go crazy and leap out of the enclosure (even with the cardboard barrier).

If statistically the nips are NOT a problem (and they have never actually nipped at each other that I could see, lots of tongue flicking and high drama though) maybe that is one concern that I can relax about. I will bet on good immune systems that can handle the odd bite, as the stress of separating them is probably taking more years off my lifespan than theirs!

Will continue to be careful and if a bite happens and an infection occurs will learn the lesson. I think scarying one off in order to appease my fear of food fights is probably causing more harm than good otherwise.

Housing (and feeding) in groups is always a risk of some sort, my experience has been that it's very low with Checkereds and so far my Santa Cruz as well, but make no mistake there's always a risk of some sort.
It's up to the keeper to decide what risks they feel are worthwhile in the longrun and make decisions accordingly. Don't do something you're uncomfortable with because it may work for someone else with their different setups, experience level etc. Just because it works for someone else doesn't guarantee you'll get the same results for many possible reasons that might not be obvious. Only take the risks you're willing to take with your animals and you can always try out different things as you become more confident with doing so.


Haz grats on those new babies!

[Sonya610]

Shoot, Shannon, it happened every time I wasn't quick enough to stop them. When you get them interlocking mouths and sinking each other's teeth into the inside of their mouths, it gets infected and swells up, every dang time. A real PITA to treat too.

All I'm saying is that if your babies are starting to fight, I would feed them separately. The fighting will only get worse from here on out. If I didn't feed my concinnus babies separately after the first few meals (they are OK at first but then later they start fighting) they would rip each other to shreds.

I wonder if the Concinnus from your area have some type of bacteria in their mouths that most other snakes don't? Sort of like cat bites, but different as all cats seem to carry uber-nasty germs.

For the record I am feeding off tongs which GENERALLY allows me to lead one off while the other is swallowing; I am not giving them a dish full of food to share as that would almost certainly invite problems (or even two dishes as one would finish first and no doubt try to steal food from the other). I am used to feeding six canines and separating all of them, so aggression and food fights between large beasts are nothing new and I am sure I could manage to break up these little babies just fine! Now dealing with meds and infection would be a whole different ballgame!

Since they are still skiddish the feeding time is the best time to get them used to me, and catching them to put in a container seems to freak them out.