oopps........

[drache]

my Sammy is still eating, but I can tell that pooping is a major effort

[Snake lover 3-25]

i'm just worried bc she was deathly thin when caught and she has eaten less than 6 times since.........

[infernalis]

Even though Garters bear live young, they still produce an egg with all the developing infants need, but instead of a "shell" the embryos are encased in a membrane.

Mom is simply providing an incubation chamber for the eggs to reach maturity. There is no umbilical cords connecting the babies to mom.

Hopefully you will be lucky enough to be home when the birthing occurs, I saved a baby from certain doom last year, it could not escape the membrane, so I used a toothpick to peel away at it. As soon as that little baby got some air, it raised it's tiny little head and started flicking it's tongue!

What a rush that was!! in nature that little runt would never taken its first breath.Regards,
Wayne A. Harvey

[jitami]

yeah.... but do they usually stop eating about a month after giving birth???? that's what my other one did and she didn't start eating again till march..... aug- march...... is that way to long????? i tried to feed her and i ended up puting her into brumation which kick started her feeding.....

Shanley, my WC guy doesn't eat much, if any at all, during the winter months and I don't officially put him into brumation either. Our winter is shorter here(N. California) but there have been several years where he didn't eat from Oct until March-ish. I keep the water clean and watch for him to start hunting for food. His appetite is voracious all spring/summer, and he's still alive and well, so I don't stress too much about it. He hides pretty much all winter, even though our indoor temps are at least in the 60's. I've tried years with the UTH on and years with it off. It doesn't seem to make any difference. I am faaaaaaar from an expert, though. I was told that a lot of WC's go off of food for the winter and not to worry about it. Seems true in our case, but your mileage may vary, of course!

[adamanteus]

Good post, Tami, and very good point... A lot of mine do this. I try to brumate all I can, even the young ones, if they're all healthy.

[jitami]

p.s. Can't wait to see Sooty's babies! Come on Sooty

[jitami]

Thanks James. Since this particular snake seems to do ok without brumating I'll leave him as is, but sometime in the future I plan on a couple of additions and will have to learn all the ins and outs of brumation at some point....

I have a while as I have to wait until our overall pet population dwindles a bit. Hubby instated a moratorium on pets and I really don't blame him. We've had a rough run with dogs lately. Our female great dane has decided that she should rid the planet of various other living creatures including the cat she grew up with, the neutered male dog she grew up with, and last summer went after a person. It's all I can do to keep her occupied without allowing her to be a danger to anyone/thing! She's our youngest pet, so someday when she's lived her life out here, I'll add more snakeys and another Dane.

[Snake lover 3-25]

awww that sucks... she killed your dog and your cat????

yeah... i wouldn't be worried if she was a good eater in the spring / summer..... but she isn't... she has ALWAYS been quite difficult to feed... except when she was gravid.... but her boy is the best eater i've ever encountered.... i don't think he's ever missed a meal...... but he may be too good of an eater.... you have to remember that i've had them for 2 yrs b4 i joined... and back b4 i knew any better i fed him 4 mice 2x a week....... but now it's down to 3 mice once a week.... but he may be slightly overweight.... i wish his mom was like that!!!!!!!!

[jitami]

So far she's only been successful in killing the neighbor's elderly chihuahua who snuck under a fence board into our yard That was when she was still a puppy and I thought maybe she was playing too rough and it was accidental. Unfortunately she proved that theory wrong. We had to place our other dog with my parents and the cat lives upstairs with baby gates on the stairs to keep them separated. To say it's been a pain is a huge understatement. The second time she went after our other dog my husband literally picked her up, all four feet off the floor, and she still kept the other dog in her mouth. I really think there's some wiring gone wrong with this dog, but it's either put her to sleep or try to keep her as happy as possible while keeping everyone safe... yeah, major pain...

[Snake lover 3-25]

ooo that's too sad.... i would personally put HER with another family who has no other pets.... just to keep YOUR OTHER pets safe... but yes i've heard of lots of dogs that have been fine all their life and just suddenly snap and can't seem to get over it......