On 08/03/2012 I noticed one of my gravid girls (Tawney) had left a waxy stool on her cage floor. Not due for another 11 days I thought it was early but not too early. She was in her water bowl so I got pictures of both.
Over the next several days she was showing typical signs of a female about to deliver. Restless, thinning in the upper half while bulking out in the lower half, conserving heat and looking for just the right spot.
This morning, 08/08 (6 days before due date), I got up early for a morning conference call and checked on her at 6:20 and she had just started delivering babies. Looked like four babies so far.
In the few minutes it took to call into my conference, get my PC up and running and snap a few pics there were another 3 babies born. This next pic shows a gap between groups being pushed out…..
And the next bulge with babies being pushed toward vent……
This is where it gets really interesting. See the next ones being pushed out, starts a few inches pre-vent….
The next group was a slug and a live baby. The baby was born alive but with a popped sack and head last. That fits right in with my theory about Stills being caused my females rupturing sacks while pushing out slugs. In this case the baby was born before it could drown inside mom. The baby is clearly out of the sack in the foreground.
To be continued.....
Babies being born
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