Gestation Time

[guidofatherof5]

My T. radix (Plains Garter Snake) Daisy gave birth today.
It was a 57 day gestation period as I witnessed the conception. The male had just been put it so there wasn't an opportunity for it to have occurred earlier. Daisy also started a serious weight gain after conception.
57 days seem a short period.

Do you think Daisy's time under the warm hide was capable of speeding up the gestation time due to the extra heat provided to the developing babies?

Have any of you had shorter gestation times? if so, please provide the species. and any other information you would like to add.

[ConcinusMan]

Why does it seem short? I googled it and the first result I found confirmed gestation took approximately 9 weeks in wild radixes.

You beat the shortest gestation period on my record. It was T. ordinoides, raised in captivity since she was a baby. First time ever bred, she had 3 offspring, 58 days after mating. That's normal for them though. Gestation for them is usually no more than 65 days. Concinnus take about a month longer than that. It's hard to say why this litter didn't take long. Obviously, there's more than just temperature as a factor. I mean, why to northesterns only need 60 days while concinnus' need 90-110 days under the same conditions?

[ConcinusMan]

Do you think Daisy's time under the warm hide was capable of speeding up the gestation time due to the extra heat provided to the developing babies?

No. What I mean is, only to a point. Cooler temps can prolong the gestation a bit but if they stay at optimal temperature through the entire gestation period development still takes a minimum number of days. I don't think it could have been any shorter but with cooler temps it would have taken longer. When you get a chance, see if you can tell how many of each sex you have. I know with lizard eggs if I kept them warm enough to get faster development, I ended up with almost all males. If I kept the eggs near minimum I'd get almost all females. If temperature fluctuated from min to max in 12 hour cycles, I'd get nearly equal numbers of both sexes. I don't know if it works that way with garters though since we are not in control of the egg temperatures. Mom is.

Anyway, my point is, if you have mostly one or the other sex, then I suppose the warm temperatures could have been a factor and also influenced the sex results.

[guidofatherof5]

[QUOTE=ConcinnusMan;153891]Why does it seem short?[QUOTE]

Because it's 15 days shorter than any others I've had.
I felt that was significant.

[ConcinusMan]

That is significant but keep in mind that the 9 week figure stated above was from the moment of ovulation and fertilization in at least one controlled scientific study I read. That doesn't necessarily coincide with the date of mating. Could be that most matings you've observed were followed a week or two later by actual ovulation and fertilization, suggesting that mating usually initiates ovulation. We know that mating isn't required for ovulation to occur but really, how often do your unmated females drop unfertilized eggs?

I have noticed that females which have never mated often ovulate for their first time and drop slugs when they reach maturity. They might do this two consecutive years but once they have mated and given birth at least once, they generally stop dropping slugs every year, even if they are not mated again.

What I'm trying to suggest is that with Daisy, she may have already ovulated at the time of mating, especially if she wasn't brumated, or else she ovulated immediately thus eliminating a theoretical two week delay between the time of mating and actual fertilization.

Keep good records Steve. Data such as "first time" or not, brumated or not, etc.. along with the weights and gestation periods might reveal a correlation. Weekly weigh ins year round, not just after mating, may provide useful data as well. Comparing data from her first time to her second time and beyond might be useful too, especially if you do that with multiple first-timers.