More deaths :(

[Philminator]

So my orange garter gave birth 4 days ago to 2 dead babies. Tonight she gave birth to about 4 more and they are all dead, only these ones looked well developed. I am optomistic that somehow the best is yet to come and that she will give birth to some lively lil scrubs. I can be positive all I want but at this point is it safe to say the rest of the litter is going to result in the same? I am definitely not off to a good start. So frustrating this was the litter I was the most excited about since she was orange and I wanted to raise all the babies.

[katach]

So sorry. That is very sad. Does she look like she is done or could she still have more?

[Philminator]

So sorry. That is very sad. Does she look like she is done or could she still have more?
she still looks very gravid. I just hope some good comes from this.

[PINJOHN]

sorry to hear your news, it must seem to you as if fate has singled you out, but your situation is not unique, i'm sure Greg wont mind if i use him as an illustration.
he is a very knowledgeable guy when it comes to garters, and not too long ago he kept us all posted on his breeding projects, he approached it from a very scientific viewpoint [compered to my efforts at least ] he regularly weighed the snakes, went to great efforts in their food regimes and left no stone unturned in his attempt to have a successful breeding season but this year at least, nature decided not to cooperate and his season was a disappointment to him , what i am saying is even doing the right things we still need nature to smile on us and she is sometimes a fickle lady, so don't be discouraged, its the disappointments that make the successes so much better :)

[jitami]

I'm so sorry to hear it :( I'll let the other more experienced breeders chime in, but if she were a mammal it would be time to get her to the vet in case the remaining babies are causing an infection inside her :( Hoping this isn't the case, but might be something to consider. Hang in there.

[infernalis]

Sometimes when the female does not feel secure with her surroundings, she will intentionally hold the babies in, resulting in stillborns.

[d_virginiana]

That really sucks. Maybe you'll get lucky and get a couple of babies to raise at least, but if not there's always next time..
I've never bred them before, so I can't really give any advice, but I thought the same thing Tami did about potential infection from retained babies.. I'm sure you're already watching her like a hawk though, so you should be able to know right off if something starts going wrong.

[ConcinusMan]

Sometimes when the female does not feel secure with her surroundings, she will intentionally hold the babies in, resulting in stillborns.

I agree. It does happen. If she doesn't feel secure and comfortable dropping her babies, she'll hold them too long (after her blood vessels detach from the membranes and she no longer can provide gas exchange) and they will suffocate. Same thing happens with egg layers sometimes but that usually results in egg binding which is usually fatal to the mother. Garters will eventually start pushing out dead babies, often clearing all the material and surviving. Sometimes though, not all the material/bodies are cleared and the mother can become septic and die.

So how did all this turn out anyway?