Dragon gave birth today.

[MCwyo]

Dragon has been off food for about a week, and for the last two days has been extremely restless. Today when I cleaned out her tank, I put some warm, damp cloth into her hide and a few extra loose paper towels (her fav. thing to hide under). Couldn't have been ten minutes later, I had washed up and was making lunch. I glanced over at the cage and she was giving birth! My daughter and I watched the whole process. She was amazed :) Dragon gave birth to 14 active, healthy looking little ones. They have all shed and are doing great. Not one single slug or stillborn so far, though Dragon dose appear to possibly have one more to go. She is resting quietly at the moment in a separate cage. I took lots of photos but I will probably not have time to upload them until tomorrow afternoon. What an exciting day!

[Invisible Snake]

Congratulations!! =]

[guidofatherof5]

Congrats. Be sure the little scrubs get their first shed done. A lukewarm water bath for an hour or so usually gets the job done.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

No pictures?!I feel cheated;) Congratulations on the new arrivals hope Mam and the little ones are well.

[Light of Dae]

Congrats!! That is awesome you n your daughter got to witness the big event!

[kueluck]

Yeah for you!!!! :D

[MCwyo]

The babies and Dragon are all doing great! All sheds completed fine and everyone is very active. Real quick, before I head off to work:

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/4255/picture270r.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/picture270r.jpg/)
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http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9919/picture273d.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/651/picture273d.jpg/)
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[MCwyo]

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8771/picture275r.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/picture275r.jpg/)
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[Eight]

Bless they are really cute.

It must be pretty exciting at your house right now

[katach]

How adorable! Congrats!

[mikem]

Congrats on the babies! They're cute :)

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

Oh, they are so adorable!!! Just the thing to make me smile in the morning, new snakie life :) Congrats on the cute babies!!!

[Stefan-A]

Those look familiar.

[guidofatherof5]

Congrats on the baby scrubs.
They look big and healthy.

[Invisible Snake]

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

[Mommy2many]

New babies! Congratulations!

[MCwyo]

I could probably spend hours watching these little guys :) They are all very active. I offered food for the first time yesterday, and one of them snapped it up right away. The rest passed for now.

Dragon is doing great. I moved her into a large enclosure I built- plenty of floor space, multi level climbing opportunities, a variety of hides and a large swimming pool. She is eating fine and seems to be enjoying life as a much slimmer snake :D

I do have a question. Though I have raised a litter of snakes before, this was the first time I have ever witnessed the birth. The first little snake she dropped was completely unmoving. Minutes went by and it just lay there upside down in the amniotic sack. I thought at first maybe it was stillborn, but I broke the sack and got it going with a bit of stimulation. I ended up assisting with most of the other babies after that. Do the scrubs normally take several minutes to break out of the sack? Was my assistance unnecessary?

[guidofatherof5]

Yes, it does take a few minutes in most cases. Usually assistance isn't needed.
I think breaking out of the egg sack is their first of many survival tests. I find dead babies still in the sack. Not sure if they were stillborn or just weren't strong enough to get out.
Even at birth nature is weeding out the weak from the strong. It's difficult to see it happen as I would like them all to live but I do understand why it has to happen this way.
I used to fight to keep any of them alive. Helping the weak out of their egg sack, force feeding the non-eaters. It was all to no avail. Those snake didn't make it.
Some have the survival switch turned on and others don't even have a switch.:(

[Stefan-A]

I think breaking out of the egg sack is their first of many survival tests.
Personally, I think that being able to break out of the sack (or the egg) unassisted should be the basic requirement for all snakes in captivity.

[Stefan-A]

I do have a question. Though I have raised a litter of snakes before, this was the first time I have ever witnessed the birth. The first little snake she dropped was completely unmoving. Minutes went by and it just lay there upside down in the amniotic sack. I thought at first maybe it was stillborn, but I broke the sack and got it going with a bit of stimulation. I ended up assisting with most of the other babies after that. Do the scrubs normally take several minutes to break out of the sack? Was my assistance unnecessary?
Sometimes it takes a second, sometimes several minutes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2pH_ikrvMk

[EasternGirl]

The babies are absolutely adorable! Awesome pics! Congrats...and glad Dragon is doing well. I have seen birthing videos posted by members in which it takes a minute for the babies to break out of the sac. Interestingly, when Cee Cee gave birth, I did not see any of the babies break out of a sac...they just seemed to plop out and start slithering around. I think someone mentioned that they can break out of the sac before coming out? Or perhaps while they are coming out?

[MCwyo]

Thank you guys for the info. If we do babies again, I will not help. I was unsure if I did the right thing by helping, as it was an "in the moment" decision. Time will tell if any of them lack drive I guess.

Several babies did come out already slithering :) But most were in sacks.

[ProXimuS]

Awww!! Congrats on the new additions:D Just out of curiosity, did you know she was gravid or was it a complete surprise?

[MCwyo]

I did know she was gravid. I was expecting her to pop any day. She is still doing wonderful :) The babies are doing great too, 6-7 strong eaters now. Tonight I am going to take the non eaters and offer them food separatly from those who have eaten. I am doing group feeding.