Cleft Palate

[GarterGeek]

Little Notch is doing pretty good. I fooled her one day and slipped a worm in on her when she was going for a guppy. She eat it just fine but then when off food for 2 days. Now, she's back to a guppy only diet. While her siblings and roomate(het albino radixes) were eating tonight she went over and smelled the worms and then left the area. She's a funny little scrub and I love her. I guess if she won't change I'll have to. Whatever the girl wants, she'll get.

And no, she won't be spoiled at all.

[KITKAT]

I'm a bit late posting here, but Notch may have the reptilian version of a "hare lip" with cleft palate. In mammals, this can be genetic, but can also be developmental, ie: something that happens in development as an accident, not related to genetics.

At any rate, she is a lucky little garter, and I hope she lives a long, slithering life!

[guidofatherof5]

My little Notch is doing well. Here she is eating a large Guppy. She caught it on her own and had 2 small ones before this.
I'm still concerned for her as I have never seen a snake in the wild with the deformity. I will continue to give her specialized care. I think she's beautiful and want to see her as an adult.

[GarterGeek]

That is so cute! I'm so glad you're taking care of her.

[guidofatherof5]

This little T.s.parietalis is special. I wanted to update Notch for you.
Even though I have to buy guppies for this little one I don't care. She is now starting to feed better.
I think she's learning how to grab her food using that partial lip. She's left-lipped. She only grabs food from the left side of her mouth.
Never noticed that behavior in any of my snakes.
She still struggles some but not near as much.

[ConcinusMan]

That warms my heart to see them doing well. I have dealt with a few concinnus babies from my (past) pair that had similar deformities and even worse clefts. I wasn't able so save them. I had too many healthy ones to look after.