Interesting Paper

[Steveo]

Trade-offs between reproductive traits and the influence of food intake during pregnancy in the garter snake, Thamnophis elegans. | Mendeley

I don't have access to the full paper, but the introduction states that gravid females ate 43% as much as non-gravid females; this suggests that pre-copulatory condition and nutrition are very important. I'll try to find the whole paper and see how the feeding rates of gravid females affected litter size and scrub size. My guess would be that condition at copulation determines litter size while food intake after copulation determines scrub size.

[chris-uk]

Trade-offs between reproductive traits and the influence of food intake during pregnancy in the garter snake, Thamnophis elegans. | Mendeley

I don't have access to the full paper, but the introduction states that gravid females ate 43% as much as non-gravid females; this suggests that pre-copulatory condition and nutrition are very important. I'll try to find the whole paper and see how the feeding rates of gravid females affected litter size and scrub size. My guess would be that condition at copulation determines litter size while food intake after copulation determines scrub size.

If you can't find the whole paper it looks like my wife would be able to get it from one of the sources (she's studying for a part time degree and her login may give her access).
Looks like an interesting article when the observations of forum members tends to be that their females eat lots while gravid, possibly the period when they stop eating before giving birth balances it out, but that figure of 43% is quite surprising.

[Stefan-A]

As it happens, I have the whole paper, courtesy of another member.

[brain]

and a link
sound interresting

[Steveo]

Stefan, anything interesting in there? I'll settle for a summary from a knowledgeable person

[Stefan-A]

Summary: Feeding during pregnancy does nothing for the offspring (snakes are capital breeders), but leaves the female with more mass afterwards. Feeding before pregnancy affects litter mass.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/thamnoph/photos/pdf/Trade offs.pdf

[Steveo]

Thanks!