First time babies

[Intra]

Hello,

I have had my two garters for 2 years now, and the female never showed much interest in the male's courting attempts.
I noticed early this week she was behaving strange, and sure enough yesterday at work I got a call from my brother saying that she starting giving birth.

I use aspen shavings for my snakes and I was worried this may be too dry for the babies. So I bought a 5.5 gal tank with a little hide and water dish, and laid paper towel as substrate. I dug through the aspen to find the babies and put them in the new tank. There are 13 babies (2 albinos), plus one that was already dead when I came home (never made it out of the sac ). I tried cutting up some pinkies to feed them, but none of them seem interested.

Being the first time I have had babies, I have some questions
1. Is 13 babies too much for a 5.5 gal tank?
2. I heard they need moisture, what would you recommend? So far I placed a couple of damp paper towel balls, one in the enclosure and outside.
3. I have also heard that sometimes they do not eat for 10 days. From your experiences, is this usually the case?
4. Can they overheat if I am using an under the tank heater?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[slipknot711]

dampen the paper towels to get the first shed off. try using cut up worms for food. for me the movement seemed to get them interested in eating. i have some that eat within the first two days some take up to two weeks. thas all i can help with at this time. im sure someone else will join in

[Intra]

Thanks I will try some worms.
Here are some pictures if anyone is interested.
IMG_20150708_193745.jpgIMG_20150708_193758.jpgIMG_20150708_202148.jpgIMG_20150708_202204.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

Congrats on your babies. Hydration is paramount.
Not all newborns eat right away. I offer food every day until everyone is eating. Some neonates have a very small window of opportunity to eat. Missing that time can be big trouble. Understand also that some neonates are never going to eat. I lost one so far out of my last group born. I worry about the babies for the first year. "Failure to thrive" is a situation that occurs, personally I think these snakes have developmental issues that can't be overcome. For a few years I force fed these snakes. Sometimes they would start eating on their own only to crash quickly and die. I don't force feed any neonates now. I let nature take over.
With all that being said all you can do is your best. Newborn garters are great, watching them take their first meal is exciting. Keep us posted on your progress.

[Albert Clark]

Welcome to the forum Intra! Glad you joined us. Congrats on the new arrivals, we all know how exciting that is. Make sure you moisten the whole area of paper towels for the babies. They should be kept warm but be sure they have a cool area to escape to as well. If you plan on using a uth then you will need to have it regulated by a thermostat. One side of the tank can be the warm side and the other the cool side. plenty of places to hide is necessary. Nice job!

[d_virginiana]

If they don't go for worms and pinkie bits small live guppies in a shallow dish of water will also get some eating. Fish aren't great as a long-term food, but they can sometimes do the trick for non-eaters.

I agree with Steve. Some are just never going to eat. Out of seven non-eaters that had gotten into really bad shape that I tried to help out a bit over a year ago, only one made it. He seems to have neurological damage, and in retrospect I think that he just needed help homing in on the prey rather than being a true ftt. A couple others did what Steve described, improving to suddenly crash later.

[Tommytradix]

oh and that setup looks perfect for them. great job for never having a litter

[Tommytradix]

i like using deli cup lids to feed on so its easy for them to see it and try putting the food right in front of the hide so they feel safe when eating and only have to poke theyre head out to get it

[Tommytradix]

welcome!

evryone already answered the questions so i have a question lol what species are they? they look like red sideds to me but hard to make out from the distances at which the photos were taken.

[Intra]

Thanks for the help guys. I tried the worms and they went for them, no problem. Now I just gotta make sure each of them is eating.

I don't really know what species. Both parents were yellow/black, I thought they were just Common Garter Snakes (T. sirtalis)