Diary of a snake (and her girl)...

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to see you back.

Would you describe what the babies looked like.
Fully developed, underdeveloped, did any break out of the egg sack. Do they seem big or small.
Anything else would be helpful.

[EasternGirl]

Hey Steve...thanks for replying. I didn't see any egg sacs. Two of the babies were stretched out as if they were slithering through the enclosure, but looked like they were missing part of the hind end. The others were curled up and did not look fully developed...or looked as if perhaps Cee Cee ate part of them. Most of them were completely dried up as if they had been sitting there for days...yet, they had not been. Could she have killed all of them? I tried to uncurl them to look and see if I could determine what was going on...I couldn't decide if they looked as if they did not develop fully or if they looked like Cee Cee might have bitten them...but something didn't look right...one or two of the curled up babies looked like their heads weren't developed. It seems odd to me that they would have been born too early, however, because I have had her for at least three, if not four months now I think. If she has anymore babies, I will take a pic. Thanks for your help.

[EasternGirl]

Oh...the two that were uncurled looked decent size and looked like snakes (coloring, head shape, etc.)...the ones that were curled up looked very small and had no coloring, pattern, etc. They were either dried up or very gooey.

[guidofatherof5]

I doubt Cee Cee had anything to do with them.

Sounds like a bad clutch. Just one of those things that happen.
No real way to figure out why. Stress, diet, bad genetics, too cold, too hot or a hundred other things.

[EasternGirl]

Do you think I should worry that Cee Cee may be ill?

[EasternGirl]

By the way, it's good to talk to you, Steve. I should be back on here more now that school is done for a while. How is everything on the ranch?

[ConcinusMan]

Sounds like she went full term but for one reason or another, failed to give birth, and from the description of the condition of the bodies, it sounds as if they were decomposing inside her. This happens sometimes. Nobody really knows why. I suspect that something goes wrong with the transition. And the transition I'm referring to is the one where mom's blood vessels detach from the egg membrane so the babies can move down and out. If that takes too long, or happens too early, the babies have no gas exchange and they suffocate.

I can tell you that she's at risk. Any retained bodies, fragments, or yolks that aren't expelled can cause her to become septic and die. You won't know if this has happened until it's too late. Hopefully she'll pass everything and be OK.