Surprise birth, need help?

[Venti]

Well, my red-sided garter snake just gave birth to 16 live babies, 2-3 slugs, no stillborns.

Right now I have them in a plastic container with some paper towels, a hide, and a water bowl. When should I start feeding them? Is there anything else I should provide?

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Congrats!!! Thats great news on the babies. I would keep them on damp paper towels for a few days with a shallow water dish. You can offer food when you get ready, but they are full on yolk right now. Some will eat when first born, but most usually wait about 4-7 days before they will eat the first meal. I have seen babies go 2 weeks before the first meal. Three days after mine is born i put food in and some usually feed and then i put a small portion of food in everyday for a couple of weeks and the ones that don't eat on the first day may eat on the next good luck with them and try to post pics if you can we love to see babies. Look on the forum caresheets if you need any info on caring for them there is lots of great info.

[Kantar]

Group picture?

[RedSidedSPR]

Wow, congrats! Hope they do well for you!!

[drache]

you've got them set up fine, just make sure the temps are good in that container
I don't start feeding babies until they're four days old, and I'm lazy, so I offer them frozen thawed stuff before I run out and get them hooked on guppies
I personally get too anxious around group feedings, and don't like that I don't know who's eaten, unless it was a fat chunk
that's why I feed mine in deli containers, and then I separate them into groups of who ate what afterwards - makes it easier to track their progress
some of your red sided babies (assuming parietalis) may surprise you by taking unscented f/t pinkie strips right from the get-go
I start of with that, and trout or salmon strips, and Sally's SF Bay silversides - all of these are for me easy to obtain, reliable, storable food items, and if they take any of that it makes life easier

[ConcinusMan]

Be careful that they don't stay constantly damp. Personally I keep them on dry paper towels and use a 16 or 20 oz plastic bottle cap for a water dish so they don't get the enclosure all wet.

You should keep them damp for a day or two but not much longer than that. If I'm keeping them in a plastic shoebox tub, I set just end of it (opposite of the water dish side) on an undertank heater and make sure there's plenty of holes smaller than their heads. Good ventilation is important.

Stay on top of it and keep the enclosure clean. This means daily cleaning for a group of them. Too much moisture and/or dirtiness can cause blister disease really fast.

You don't have to worry about feeding right now. They just got well fed on yolk. That should last them a while. Just make sure they're dry after the first day or two, and always have easy access to clean water.

Good luck, and congrats!

[drache]

Be careful that they don't stay constantly damp. Personally I keep them on dry paper towels and use a 16 or 20 oz plastic bottle cap for a water dish so they don't get the enclosure all wet.

thanks for pointing that out
I don't think damp paper towels are a good idea at all
a shallow water dish that gets changed frequently is a much better idea

[kibakiba]

My babies ate after 15 days. They just came out, so they don't need to be eating for quite some time.

[Venti]

Thank you everyone for the help, I chopped up some night crawler for them, and saw one gulp a mouthful down before I had to go out to eat. I came back a few minutes ago and all the worm chunks were gone, so I will cut up some more tomorrow

Theif is pigging out like usual, I am still suprised how she managed to fit 16 into her thin girth. For anyone who saw her picture a few weeks ago, it didn't seem like she was gravid, compared to what I've seen. Though, now that I think of it, she was a bit fatter then usual.

Pictures!
(Click to view larger images)



Before she gave birth.


After.


In their box without their water bowl and paper towels. (So I could get a better picture).


A close up.

And since I was wrong about the number of jellybeans and whatnot, here is the information on these little guys.

Information:

Born on 7.22.11, at approx. 1:00 PM.
Approx. 13 babies.
5-6 jellybeans.
2 stillborns.
3 died after birth.

[Jeff B]

Congrats on a nice litter, this year I offered chopped worms and chopped rosies, most ate with in 3-4 days, some 2nd day after birth, some took a week, and a few held out for live, which after a 10 days I usually cave and offer a live fish or tadpole and that usually does the trick, but then convert off live ASAP. Waiting 3-4 days to offer seems like would be a prudent average for most of the litters I have produced in the past. After a few weeks and they get fat and happy and bulletproof I start mixing pinkie parts in and slowly switch over to rodents. I think I will give a night crawler as a regular treat but keep rodents as the staple. Good luck with them and have fun watching them grow and mature, both in terms of size/looks and personality.