Two quick questions...

[EasternGirl]

Hey everyone! First...I was wondering feeding wild caught smelt would be okay as a treat mixed with pinks? I saw some at the seafood counter and thought it would be a nice treat.

Second....does anyone know how many times a snake can become gravid from stored sperm? I know they can store it for a while...but can they use it more than once? Or could a female mate with a male and use some sperm immediately and store some for the future? Steve and I were discussing this and we didn't really know the answer. Cee Cee is looking and acting gravid again and she has not had contact with a male since she mated with Seeley last winter and became gravid.

Thanks for any advice!

[-MARWOLAETH-]

there are quite a few smelt species and some contain Thiaminase. IMO don't feed to be safe. I'm not sure if garters can do it but I know that crested geckos can use it more than once.

[chris-uk]

When I was reading around the biological mechanism behind the stored sperm I couldn't think of any reason that retained sperm couldn't be used more in more than one batch. There isn't any reason that all the stored sperm would need to be released the first time it's needed. I'd be surprised if someone out there hasn't got a real example of stored sperm being used for more than one pregnancy.

[EasternGirl]

Hmmm...I might be the next person to have an example of that. What is your opinion on the smelt, Chris? And how was Joseph's first Christmas?

[chris-uk]

Smelt, if correctly identified are OK. However, I'm sure this has come up before and there are several species of fish that are often sold as smelt in the US. I plan to order a bag of frozen smelt in January, but I'm ordering from a company that Greg uses for food, so I'm confident that it's actually smelt.

Joseph had a nice Christmas, and has been thoroughly spoilt by his mother and nanna so far. Today we drive down to my mother, where he'll no doubt be spoilt again by his nanny and aunts and uncle. I'm looking forward to the years when he actually knows what is going on, when we can fill his head with the Christmas myths (ready to shatter them in around 8 years) :).

[Greg'sGarters]

I'm also interested to know how many times a garter can store sperm. With this being my first year brumating garters, I was going paranoid thinking "OMG what if any of my females are pregnant? They will die during brumation!". I checked each female about 500 times lol.

[Stefan-A]

Smelt, if correctly identified are OK.
Osmerus eperlanus is okay. Other species of smelt either aren't okay, or might not be okay, including the other members of Osmerus.

Half a dozen fish families share the same common name, "smelt".

[EasternGirl]

I'm just not going to feed it, to be safe. I totally understand, Chris...I remember when Julian was a baby...Christmas really didn't mean anything....now he gets so excited...it's fun for everyone.

Yes...if anyone else has any input on the storing of sperm...I would love to hear it. I'm telling you, Cee Cee looks gravid...acts gravid...we'll see....

[ConcinusMan]

.but can they use it more than once? Or could a female mate with a male and use some sperm immediately and store some for the future?

Sure. And as unbelievable as it sounds they can even be storing sperm from two males and select which one to use. But this is parietalis that does that. I don't know about any others. I know that northwesterns can mate once and have a litter. Then a year or two later pop out a few surprise babies even if she has had no further male contact. The secondary litter is usually small though. Say she has 7 babies the first time. The next time might only be 1-3.