New Babies!

[Snakesitter]

On Thursday, August 14, Living Gems had its first litter of 2014. First-time Mom Jadeite delivered a litter of 16 babies in her water bowl early in the day. (Dad Picasso was nowhere to be seen, lazy bum.)

I discovered the litter right when I got home, and immediately realized there were still live babies trapped in the water. Two were wriggly and quickly plucked out…and quickly thanked me with their teeth.

The remaining four, sadly, looked like this:

I carefully looked through the water, gently prodded the babies, and as all seemed lost, I left them and went back to the live ones.

The first round of photos:

The enclosure’s left side, just after the babies were discovered:


The enclosure’s right side, moments later:


With door opened:


I then went back and set up empty drawers and my scale to process the little ones.

While I did, I took a second look at the water bowl. It was unclear to me whether the deaths were due to still birth or drowning…

…but looking at the bodies, I could see signs of both. All four looked a bit chubbier than their littermates, three of them had small retained yolks, and one a short lower jaw; any of this could imply either a still birth or less developed birth that kept them from being able to reach air while Mom was still in the water. I poked through them again, and as I did, realized one was ever so faintly moving! I picked it up right away and stared…no sign of life now…no sign of life…movement! In much better spirits now, I gently placed the very weak baby aside to rest and went back to processing the rest of them.

More pictures:

A closeup of two babies huddled in the corner:


One of the two decides that I’m not too threatening, and tries to make a break for it past me:


And this little fellow: "When I grow up, I want to be a door lock protection system."


The final count was 16 young: 12 live, 1 challenged, and 3 dead. After weighing the entire litter, I found an average birth weight of 31 grams. All four of the ones trapped in the water were indeed heavier, around 34 grams. The last thing I did that night was add a heat pack to the drawer of the straggler. The baby made it through the night, and six days later, is going strong. Thank god for small (and now bitey!) miracles. ;-)

Thank you for reading,