% Please

[guidofatherof5]

I would like to get some idea of the percentage of troubled eaters(newborns) that don't make it. I average 1 or 2 troubled eaters per group born. Of that I would say I lose 75% of those within the first 6 months. Of the ones that do live, they have grown to regular size and their slow start doesn't seem to have had any effect of them.
As much as I don't like these numbers I understand most of these troubled eater have problems I can't see. Many, if not most are developmental in nature.
Some of these snake are in what I would call my neonatal intensive care unit at the Ranch. They require a lot of attention and many more hours of monitoring. The sad part is many of them will show signs of making it and then crash over a couple day period and die.
So my question is:
What percentage of neonate troubled eater don't live past 6 months?

[Mexicofan]

Hallo Steve,

Th. hammnondi:
14 Babys, born at 06. Dec. 2009

I lost 42,86% (6 Babys). They have been the little ones.
2 never eat.
4 stoppt eating after 7 weeks.

[guidofatherof5]

Hallo Steve,

Th. hammnondi:
14 Babys, born at 06. Dec. 2009

I lost 42,86% (6 Babys). They have been the little ones.
2 never eat.
4 stoppt eating after 7 weeks.

Thanks.
That's just what I'm looking for.:)

[snakeman]

Seriously, I might have had one baby that did'nt eat.I have had some babies die suddenly.But they were all eating.

[Mommy2many]

I have only had the one litter so far:

11 live births
1 passed in the first week
1 passed yesterday (I think he was the "eater" from the sibling incident a few days ago) there must have been some trauma

All eat, most really well, I think out of the remaining 9, I have 2 that are much smaller than the others but still hold their own.

[snakeman]

If you feed all of your babies together you are going to get non feeders.If you separate them they will do much better.Snakes are loaners and do not enjoy company.

[ConcinusMan]

So my question is:
What percentage of neonate troubled eater don't live past 6 months?

Somewhere between 0% and 100% except during a leap year.

Seriously though, I always kept them in several containers. In one container I kept the smaller troubled or non-feeders so they could get extra attention, in another container the larger more aggressive feeders and if necessary, spit them into smaller groups especially at feeding time. By 6mos of age, any that haven't already died, and are eating/growing will usually make it.

I got 40 to live past 6mos out of 50 live births but they were all very small. Another time I lost 4 out of 23. And like was mentioned, some of the lost were doing well and just suddenly died after a few months. Seems the small ones with the offset looking heads never make it even if I can get them to eat.

[Odie]

My worst was 80% loss :(

[drache]

I've had three birth occasions at my house
the first, concinnus, 6 live births, all good eaters from the get-go, still have one of them
the second, sirtalis, six live, two still-born, good eaters from get-go, still thriving
the third, parietalis, 4 live, five or so slugs, good eaters from get-go
seems that whoever survives birth at my house tends to thrive later, and so far all my females have thrown small litters with good-sized babies (around 7"-9" at birth)

[Mommy2many]

Wow, you did get good size babies. Way to go!

[ConcinusMan]

I've only had concinnus(2.5 to 3.5 feet) and ordinoides(1.5-2 feet) give birth. The very least I've seen from concinnus was 23 not counting 3 stills. All were good feeders and appeared to be doing well. In spite of that, only 18 were left alive beyond the 6 month mark. I've never experienced newborn concinnus larger than 6 inches. On average, they were a bit smaller than that. I've always got a few stills, a few deformed that died in a day or two. I've never got slugs from any garter. If I did, she sneaked them out and ate them the second I turned my back. For litters 25 count and up, the number of problem feeders (most, but not all of those die) and sudden death increases but in spite of that, I've never had huge losses and the losses were proportional for the size of the litter.

On the other hand, I've never got more than 8 from an ordinoides. All were 4-6 inches. Never had stills, never had any suddenly die. Although there are few in number, they seem much larger and hardier than any concinnus litters I ever had and yet concinnus are much larger snakes as adults. Also, in spite of the size of the litters, concinnus aren't nearly as numberous as ordinoides in any given location. I think it's also interesting to note that even being there when they emerge from the dens, nearly all the snakes are the same size. Around 2 feet. The odds are against finding one larger or smaller.