A Few Questions

[MoJo]

Do Garters shed before they give birth? Tiger, my Eastern Blackneck (I know you guys are great about using their scientific names but I can barely pronounce T cyrtopsis ocellatus, let alone spell it), shed 8 days ago, stopped eating about 3 weeks ago and now does not look that big. I never saw her mating or any kind of plug but I sure thought she was getting fat and acting gravid. Now I have no idea what is going on.

Cheetah on the other hand I saw mating but she is already refusing food and as far as I can tell is only about 40 days into her gestation. She is not a very big girl although now she is busting out all over. I will try and give her pinkies and see if she will eat small prey but I have a feeling she has decided she is off food!

I will try and get photos of the girls tomorrow.

Thanks,
Joanna

[garterchick]

hey joanna
sounds like you and i have some similar problems, see my thread "labor". looking foreward to the pictures of your girls.
tina

[adamanteus]

Hi Joanna, try to be patient, just treat her as you normally would (maybe smaller food items). She'll give birth when she's good and ready.:)

[MoJo]

Thanks James. Patience is definitely not one of my virtues!

Here are my girls. If I did this right Tiger, the girl I thought was going to give birth any day, should be first. Looking at her now I am really wondering if she is gravid.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/Tiger5_28_07.jpg

Next up is Cheetah. I am pretty sure she is gravid since I did see her mating! She is also huge and only about 41 days from the day I saw her mating.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/Cheetah5_28_07.jpg

Finally I took a photo of Clementine my largest girl who I really did not think could be gravid but I thought I saw a lump move! Maybe I am just beginning to hallucinate!

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/Clementine5_28_07.jpg

I will post some more photos of the girls and their mate, Billy the Kid another night. I am computered out for now!

Any input on whether these girls look gravid would be welcome.

Joanna

[stonyloam]

Those are GREAT photos!! What did you use for lighting?

[Stefan-A]

Very nice photos of some very pretty snakes, Joanna. :)

[garterchick]

those are awsome-looking snakes, joanna.
tina

[adamanteus]

Hi Joanna, they all look very gravid to me!

[Snaky]

To me they also look all gravid. Very nice animals!

[MoJo]

Thanks all. If they are all truly gravid then I am very impressed with this little boy. Clementine is at least 3 feet and a huge garter - she eats large mice without a problem. He looked like a worm next to her!

I will be sure to post photos if there are babies.

The photos are taken with a combination of natural light and daylight fluorescent bulbs. I also put the snakes in a fabric "box" or light tent to diffuse the light. As I said before - it really helps that my husband is a photographer!

Joanna

[adamanteus]

They are excellent photos, Joanna. Every single scale so well defined. Congratulations. I expect you'll be entering the photo competitions soon!:rolleyes:

[drache]

Joanna
your snakes are stunning and so are the pics
and soon you'll be inundated with little ones
too cool