Quote:
Originally Posted by Gungirl
Maybe the stress of taking her out of the wild and putting her in a tank caused all the still borns..... Just a guess but it would make sense.
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And a very good guess at that, most people don't realize that any larger bodied garter snake captured between the first thaw and mid July is most likely gravid.
Fertile females never miss a mating, the ratios are set by nature to be more males than females, so the males wait outside the dens and jump every fertile female their is on her way out, virtually guaranteeing that every fertile female gets pregnant.
I have heard of females holding in the babies until they all died and went septic in her belly, because the sudden captivity.
My advice to anyone is not to gather any (unless you can sex them) snakes during the reproductive cycle. (spring / early summer)