Checkered babies!

[ScimitarX]

Today, my female checkered gave birth to 3 large beautiful babies, am really happy as the parents are fairly young and small, so its a great result for her first litter.

heres mum:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/PICT0833.JPG


and dad:

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/PICT0835.JPG



and now the babies

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/PICT0816.JPG


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/PICT0818.JPG


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/PICT0817.JPG

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Congrats.

[RdubSnider]

Congratulations.

[guidofatherof5]

Nice looking little scrubs.

[Eddie]

Congrats!

[RicMartin]

Congrats!

[ScimitarX]

Thanks!

[ScimitarX]

Update!

Today, 2 out the 3 babies ate some chunks of chopped up fish. I left the fish in with them and within a couple of minutes it was gobbled up. Hopefully the last hold out will be persuaded next time.

[Spankenstyne]

Love Checkereds, congrats on the babies!

[guidofatherof5]

Glad to hear most are feeding.

[HazAnga]

congrats, no albino's? The albino's look nice but i still like the regular checkereds more then the albino checkereds.

[ScimitarX]

Nope, no albinos. Prefer the normals myself as well.

@spankenstyne: I love checkerds too, had one as my very first snake and loved him to bits.

[HazAnga]

Nope, no albinos. Prefer the normals myself as well.

@spankenstyne: I love checkerds too, had one as my very first snake and loved him to bits.

My male checkered was my first snake too!

[ScimitarX]

another quick update:

1 of the babies ate a scented piece of pinky today, so hopefully he'll take non scented very soon. Still got one whos refusing to eat at all and the other that just had some fish the last feed but nothing this time.

Also i'm amazed at how fast they are growing, they seem to have doubled in length already. They are also really calm, can pick them up and hold them without them going mad trying to get away.

All in all, im very happy with their progress :D

[guidofatherof5]

That sounds great. Congrats.

[ConcinusMan]

Very nice. Always good to hear that there are healthy live babies, even if it is only very few.

[ConcinusMan]

Nope, no albinos. Prefer the normals myself as well.

The "hypos" or "pastels" is what finally got me hooked but I went ahead and got an albino too. Got my first checkereds from Shannon. They are so tame, they'll come right into my hand voluntarily. I love 'em.

[ScimitarX]

another update, with various pics of them too :D

the one that took scented pinky parts greedily took 3 more scented bits off the tweezers the other day, it also likes to do a mini yawn (stretching the mouth maybe) before it eats so i know for sure its definitely going to eat when i see it do that, its kinda cute.

the other 2 are still being rather picky about their food, so i think its back to fish only with those to try and tempt them into going with the feeding, they are still a nice weight and growing nicely so not overly worried, yet.

aaaand here are the pics


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Photo-0029.jpg


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Photo-0030.jpg


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Photo-0031.jpg


http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Photo-0032.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the update.
Those little Checkereds can be picky eaters.

[drache]

a late congrats
on the eating as well
they look very nice, Claire

[ScimitarX]

Thanks :)

[RedSidedSPR]

NIce, they're awesome. Glad they're eating.

[ScimitarX]

Update!

the one brilliant eater ate 2 non scented pinky chunks today straight off the tweezers, and since its the 4th feed, hes now ready to find a new home.

one of the others seems to like fish best, so he had his 2nd feed today, still hoping to transition him onto pinkies asap, but the fish will keep him going for now.

which leaves the last one, who is still refusing to eat anything at all, overall hes a very shy, quiet snake, so maybe relocating him to somewhere quieter and then leaving food with him for a longer period will tempt him. He still looks in pretty good shape, but is starting to lag a bit behind the other 2 since they have eaten.

so fingers crossed.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the update.
It's always nice when the babies start and continue eating.
Hope your hold out starts eating.

[ScimitarX]

Here is a long needed update.

greedy guts continues to stuff her face with pinky parts, she ( i think its a girl looking at the tail) will eat as until shes full taking food straight off the tweezers. she is sold now, her owner is coming for her next week :)

Got the other one established on fish now, still wont touch the pinkies but is doing great on the fish.


and that just leaves the last one, the little hold out, who refused to eat anything at all until today. He ate a tiny bit of fish all by himself :D So finally he can start catching up with the other 2.

Here's a picture of the little one, taking shelter in his bottlecap water bowl after eating^^

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Photo-0014.jpg

[snakehill]

And eating already! How do you do that??!!!:confused:

[ScimitarX]

i cut up the food, be it fish or pinkies and just left it in with them for 5-10 mins and they usually took it that way. covered them up with something too so it was a bit darker for their first feed. Worked for me :)

[guidofatherof5]

Love the bottle cap photo. Funny little scrubs.:D

[flickerfriend]

Congratulations! Those guys look so cute!

[RedSidedSPR]

Love that pic. Awesomely cute.


And eating already! How do you do that??!!!:confused:

By trying everything. Usually it works, but sometimes, on rare occasions, it doesn't happen. In those cases, there is nothing you can do.

[Mommy2many]

I forget how tiny they are!

[ConcinusMan]

i cut up the food, be it fish or pinkies and just left it in with them for 5-10 mins and they usually took it that way. covered them up with something too so it was a bit darker for their first feed. Worked for me :)

Yeah, that should work and it does for most snakes I keep, but I have a tiny albino male that still refuses to eat. I tried everything, and when I say everything, I mean everything. If this continues much longer he won't make it. He's already looking very thin and weak.:(

[Mommy2many]

Sorry to hear you are having such a time with the baby, Richard.

[snakehill]

So sorry too!!!:(

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, I don't think he's ever going to eat. I'll probably find him belly up soon.

[RedSidedSPR]

That sucks. What have you not tried?

[ConcinusMan]

Hot dogs and bubble gum.:cool:

[RedSidedSPR]

Worth a shot.

[ConcinusMan]

Well, this is probably why the babies from this litter are being given away for free. A baby garter snake that continuously refuses food is as good as dead. It's nearly to the point of skin folds now. I don't hold out much hope for this guy.:(

[RedSidedSPR]

Some people force feed as a last resort, i'm not a fan of doing that though.

[ConcinusMan]

That's ridiculous. I'm not even going to attempt to force feed a tiny baby checkered. (about 4.5 inches) It's impossible and wouldn't do any good anyway.

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah, i wasn't suggesting it. It is ridiculous. I guess it's possible, but i'd never try it. I guess it makes sense, if it gets him eating, but...

[kibakiba]

When Thumbelina hadn't eaten for a month, I held his head and pushed the food in his face. I was really gentle with him, and he started eating after that. Maybe I have pretty small hands, though.

[ssssnakeluvr]

I have force fed tiny baby easterns.... put some fish in the blender, sucked it up with a small syringe and squirted it in the baby thru an IV catheter... of course I don't recommend that for just anyone...I have had a lot of experience working with babies and it would be easy to injure one if you aren't careful