Melanistic wandering garter babies

[Brian]

I have been very busy and haven't been able to spend much recreational time on this fine forum but it is amazing how much it has grown.
It's amazing how many garter lovers there are out there.

I didn't do much breeding this year but my melanistic wandering garter female just had 16 babies last Friday.
All are healthy and beautiful. In three clutches (4, 19, 16) this female has not had any jelly beans or stillborns.

Here are some pics.

Mom with the babies.
http://utahherps.info/pics/t_e_vagrans_mom_baby_072007.jpg

The babies separated out for counting.
http://utahherps.info/pics/t_e_vagrans_babies_072007_0.jpg

A couple of bad closeups of one of the babies under natural light.
http://utahherps.info/pics/t_e_vagrans_baby_072007_082.jpg

http://utahherps.info/pics/t_e_vagrans_baby_belly_0720.jpg

Here is a link that shows the historical breeding of this female.
ThamnophisWest.com (http://www.thamnophiswest.com/t_e_vagrans.html)

[Josh]

wow i love them lol
Do i expect to see them in the classifieds section?

[Stefan-A]

Wow, very nice! I'd love to get my hands on one of those. :)

[Brian]

Thanks for the comments Stefan and Josh!
These are definitely my favorite snakes. Josh, yes there is an add posted.

[Snaky]

Very nice, congrats on them!

[GarterGirl]

Very, very, very, very, very, very nice snakes!
I want one!

[drache]

Brian
they're beautiful
you will be breding her again next year, right?
I'm a bit tapped out at the moment
I love T. e vagrans though - my favourites
I'd be upset to miss out

[Sid]

Really nice Brian. Good photos too.

Sid

[Odie]

Dude, those are coo L, Mon.

[GarterGuy]

Congrats on your new litters! They're very nice looking. I was honestly looking for Mel. T.e.vagrans and hoped to get them from Felzer, but his sold out before I got to any. Have to check out the classified add. Are all of them striped like the mother or are some also totally black? Also, weren't you worried about the mom eating her babies? I've heard that T.e.vagrans can be cannibalistic. Anyways, good looking snakes.:D

Roy

[Lee]

Very nice!

[adamanteus]

Beautiful looking babies. Congratulations!

[ssssnakeluvr]

Hey Brian....save me a female!!!!

[Brian]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.

drache, Yes I will be breeding her again next year! I hope you can get one then.

Roy, the babies were just in with the mom until I got home from work.
Then they were removed. While elegans will definately eat other snakes their aren't many documented cases of them eating their own species. I've never had any problems. The mother almost seems sad when they are taken away. She seems to look arround the cage for them. It could be she is just hungry after giving birth though and is looking for a meal.

All of the babies have remnants of pattern on their sides but none of them have dorsal stripes. In previous litters when she was bred to a normal wandering, some ended up with faint dorsal stripe like the mom.
Personally I like these better than the all black ones because they are much more variable and the black stands out better against some remnant pattern.
It appears that there are several different genes at play with melanism in these snakes. Perhaps one for dorsal stripes, one for side stripes and one for the rest of the snake.

Don, will do. I haven't sexed them yet but will after their first meals are digested.