Bigger Yowza! 97 T.radix Born

[guidofatherof5]

I am posting this information and photos on behalf of a forum member allendale65 (Bruce). Bruce sent me an email last night telling me about the birth of 90+ Plains garter snakes. Today I received a couple more emails with the details and photos.
Total born 97 (Possibly and new record) This is still to be documented but is in the process of doing so with the help of Jeff LeClere (herpnet.net)
91 live birth (1 being two-headed)
6 Stillborn (2 being two-headed)
What a great bunch of scrubs. In the 2nd photo I circled the two-headed stillborns in red.
Photo #3 is of the live born two-headed with lower jaw problems. It will be euthanized as it can't survive with this type of deformity.
Photo #4 is pre-birth and #5 is post-birth.
There is also the possibility that the mother is a record length at 43+ inches.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//801/medium/1_640x480.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//801/medium/STILLBORNS_640x480.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//801/medium/LONE_LIVE_TWO-HEADED_640x480.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//801/medium/MOTHER2_519x640.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//801/medium/MEASURE_467x640.jpg

[snake man]

What do you do with that many babies?

[guidofatherof5]

Work your butt off that's for sure.

[indigoman]

Thats amazing Steve, if not a record must be close. I would like to get updates on the progression of this birth. Congratulations Bruce!

[ProXimuS]

What!? Huh!? Wow!! What to comment on first!?:p Well I must say kudos to mama first off! I wonder, is that first pic of her pre-shed, she looks really brown compared to the second pic. Also, more two headed babies?! Weeeird:eek: Is this some type of genetic thing, sicne she had three of them? I can't believe 97 babies!

[guidofatherof5]

I believe the young will be released soon.
Holding off for documentation purposes at this time.

[Eddie]

WOW! That is amazing.
Good luck to mama and the babies!

[guidofatherof5]

It's looking like the record of 62(which I think it is) is going to be wiped out with this birth.
Amazing to think she probably was carrying 100 eggs at one point.
She's got my vote for Mother of the Year.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/Clapping.gif

[Stefan-A]

http://koti.mbnet.fi/thamnoph/photos/garbage/benderneat.jpg

[Invisible Snake]

That is amazing!!

Can we get any background info on the parents, such as age? wc? etc..

[Mommy2many]

Wow, way to go MOM! I'd say she kicked that old record to the curb.

[guidofatherof5]

There is also a distinct possibility that this is the U.S. record for births(Thamnophis or other genus) at this point.

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

97 babies!!! Amazing. I bet she is feeling much better now :p I'll be sticking close to this thread for updates :)

[Eight]

That's truly amazing. I'm really not sure what I would do if one of mine gave birth to that many.

[mikem]

Yowza indeed! :cool:

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I bet Mam is relieved!He'll have to spend hours chopping up worms funfunfun:)

[guidofatherof5]

It's looking like the record of 62(which I think it is) is going to be wiped out with this birth.
Amazing to think she probably was carrying 100 eggs at one point.
She's got my vote for Mother of the Year.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//744/Clapping.gif

The record was/is 60. Thanks for clarifying that for me Steve Schmidt.

[ssssnakeluvr]

the record is 92 for an eastern.... was in an article by Scott Felzer... that is a lot of babies

[chris-uk]

Wow!

Incredible. That's quite a mother. If you're reading Bruce, good luck taking care of the babies until they're released.

[guidofatherof5]

The record was/is 60. Thanks for clarifying that for me Steve Schmidt.

I should have clarified my response. The record for T.radix is 60.
Thanks for that info. on T.sirtalis Don.

[ConcinusMan]

There is also a distinct possibility that this is the U.S. record for births(Thamnophis or other genus) at this point.

As far as I knew, the record for any garter snake was 85 live but I could be wrong. My personal record is 54 live. Or was it 56? Anyway, can't touch this! Set by a big concinnus girl that quite possibly broke another record by living 21 years.

This is just amazing! But I don't think you can count the stillborns. Even so, 91 live is still a record.

I think the official records have been broken many times. It's a matter of getting it to be official. Very difficult. I still wonder if many more people have had a garter snake live to be 20 or so. According to the official record, the answer is "no" but I know better.

[guidofatherof5]

The record for T.radix in captivity is something like 8 years. I've got girls coming up on that with no problem.

[Eddie]

I had an anery Radix give birth to 64 live young about 8 years ago or so. I did not think it could have been a record. I also had an eastern give birth to 54 live babies. One of them was born with no eyes but it did live for quite some time.
I will have to keep better track lol.
Ed

[ConcinusMan]

The record for T.radix in captivity is something like 8 years. I've got girls coming up on that with no problem.

Records :rolleyes: Bah! 8 years. That's a joke.

[kueluck]

That's just crazy. :eek:

[guidofatherof5]

That is amazing!!

Can we get any background info on the parents, such as age? wc? etc..

Both parent were wild caught I believe. The female in Sept. of 2011 and the male I'm not sure about.

[EasternGirl]

Well, Cee Cee had a litter of 30 and then a litter of 40....as you all probably remember the 30 were all stillborn, and with the litter of 40, only three made it. But anything over 60 is crazy! Congrats Bruce! Good luck with all of those little scrubs. I'm sorry about the stillborns...the two-headed ones make me very sad. I miss you Bruce! We need to catch up!

[ConcinusMan]

I believe that official records only count young that are born alive. Doesn't much matter if they die within hours, as long as they are alive when born.

[guidofatherof5]

the record is 92 for an eastern.... was in an article by Scott Felzer... that is a lot of babies

I check with Scott and he said 62 is the largest group he's ever produced.

[infernalis]

I reposted this on ssnakess with a link.

Amazing thread Steve.

Made the reptile report too!

97 Babies! | The Reptile Report (http://thereptilereport.com/97-babies/)

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks Wayne.

[guidofatherof5]

Thought I would give this a bump. Amazing birth.

[Foxrun402]

Amazing! I would have never thought this was possible until now!

[guidofatherof5]

Bump time.

[Majorica]

All of these babies are being fed, kept in captivity and then released?. Won't that put them at a disadvantage for survival?.

[chris-uk]

Those babies are now two years old.

Steve, did you hear any more about them?

[guidofatherof5]

Not a word.

[joeysgreen]

That is an amazing litter. If I recall the overall North American record is 101 from a Northern Watersnake in Ontario. I witnessed a Nerodia sipedon with 90 something before... I want to say 99 but don't want to claim to beat this radix.
I've only had one litter of gartersnakes before; grand total of 20 babies :)

[Majorica]

My bad, didn't check the date of this thread.

[Tommytradix]

mine had 47 last season but 97! thats double of what my big momma of 36 inches had thats alot of mouths to feed lol

[Tommytradix]

Giving this a bump

[Albert Clark]

Amazing birth record. Thanks for bringing that back up here.

[Zdravko092368]

Finally found this, dang search function messing with me lol.