When does 13 = 14?

[Rainbowsrus]

No babies at the morning check, then early this afternoon I checked again and noticed this in Lola's window...
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/LO_SU_20130907a.jpg


Yup, she dropped her litter - cool!! Was deposited outside the hide on the cage floor and most were already cruising around. I started pulling babies and after a few I pulled the hide box with mom inside and noticed she had deposited the last egg sack in there with her. She was not moving so I continued with the cage. Pulled all the babies in the cage, 12, plus the one with mom = 13 right?















Wrong, when I pulled mom to get at the ;last egg sack I noticed this:







http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/LO_SU_20130907b.jpg

Yes, there are two heads in there = TWINS!!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/LO_SU_20130907c.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/LO_SU_20130907d.jpg



And as if that weren't proof, after they left the sack they were still joined by their shared umbilical cord which they eventually pulled apart from each other.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/LO_SU_20130907e.jpg

And on a side note, last year I had only 91 babies, this year twin one was baby #91 and twin two was baby #92. Super sweet way to surpass last years count!!

[slowhite03]

Never knew snakes could have twins, Mother Nature sure works in weird ways

[SnoopySnake]

That's amazing! How common are twins in snakes? Congrats on the litter as well, they're pretty! :)

[marvelfreak]

OMG Dave that is just to freaking cool. I love the pictures that makes it even cooler. Are their patterns alike or similar?

[snakeman879]

Hi congrats on the new litter really nice snakes. I was not aware that snakes could have twins ether is it a common thing do u know ???

[sweatshirt]

Awesomeee! Congrats :D

[Rainbowsrus]

I know it does happen but not common, this is my second set in ~1400 baby BRB's which is 0.14%

[Charis]

Wow! Cool that you got to see that!
I'd guess that twins in snakes are either more common in egg layers or the keepers don't notice it as much in live birthers. There seem to have been a lot of twins this year in various egg laying species but this is the first time I've ever head of live birth twins. Probably easier to miss that happening with a live birth though, I'd think.

[SuperSleuth]

As far a human babies go, same umbilical cord/sac should mean identical twins. So the BRB twins *should* be identical.

[Rainbowsrus]

Well, technically the each had their own umbilical cord to the yolk which at birth time was gone. In the picture you can see the central nodule which is what's left of the yolk.

They are as similar as any litter siblings but are not identical.

[Rainbowsrus]

Update, they all ate including the twins. Gave the twins mouse pinkies and they both attacked with gusto!

[Charis]

That's great to hear! Are they very much smaller than their siblings?

[Rainbowsrus]

They are absolutely tiny, the two smallest BRB's I've ever seen. Typical newborn babies are around 30 grams. This whole litter was smaller at around 21-22 grams each. Not unheard of but clearly smaller than average. The twins were 11 and 12 grams each. Normal to be half the size of their siblings since each only had a half a yolk to grow on.

Alongside a couple normal newborn babies from the next litter:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/Twins_2HAOZb.jpg

And alongside a 6 week older animal from my first litter this year:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b237/rainbows-r-us/BRB/2013%20babies/Lola%20x%20Sugar/Twins_PRPI.jpg

[Charis]

They are super cute little guys!