Gravid Females...

[reptileparadise]

Good luck this season mate! If all works out, plenty to take care of considering the average litter to be around 20+ young!

The albino parietalis female looks quite, she still has her baby face How old is she if I may ask?

That het. NY animal is huge indeed! How much are you feeding her???? Looks gravid from the neck down...

[Chondro788]

Thanks, this year will probably be pretty crazy. I was not expecting so many females to breed so well and now become gravid. This is my first "big" year, and it certainly looks as though I will have my hands full.

The albino Red Sided is a 2010 animal from Jeff. She is not huge, probably in the 24"-28" range. She is absolutely one of my favorites though, and was part of the first group of garters I ever bought.

The NY Het eats large mice, and I usually feed my gravid feamles twice a week to keep them fat and happy during this time of year. That said, her last few meals have been 2 small mice, as she is really fat, and I don't really want her putting on more weight, other then babies. The fact that she has some Florida blood in her may be why she is turning out to be such a large adult. The only other garter I have in her size range is a female similis who is about the same size, but was not bred.

[Chondro788]

Here you go Joe...

gravidebn.jpg

I'm thinking this girl will give me some babies too...
gravidalbino.jpg

And just some other pics I took recently. First is my albino coast garter. He has not been eating as much as I would like, but only when he wants to, so hes a little thin.
albinocoast.jpg

And my "red hypo". She is just plain awesome, I love her burgandy coloration...
redhypo.jpg

[reptileparadise]

The albino Red Sided is a 2010 animal from Jeff. She is not huge, probably in the 24"-28" range. She is absolutely one of my favorites though, and was part of the first group of garters I ever bought.

The NY Het eats large mice, and I usually feed my gravid feamles twice a week to keep them fat and happy during this time of year. That said, her last few meals have been 2 small mice, as she is really fat, and I don't really want her putting on more weight, other then babies. The fact that she has some Florida blood in her may be why she is turning out to be such a large adult. The only other garter I have in her size range is a female similis who is about the same size, but was not bred.

Easy to tell that the parietalis is very young indeed. She still has her baby face. Wondering what she'll produce for you. Is she fed mice as well?

Curious to see what comes from this. Not morph-wise, more baby wise. She'll certainly be gaining weight, but I doubt it'll be from big/healthy babies...Good luck with her. I sincerely hope you'll keep us updated on both the babies and the adults.

The female from you died last year

Did you have it checked? Wat was the cause of death if I may ask (PM welcome as well...)

*Disclaimer;
My reaction above might sound/look very dark and negativ, but I must honoustly admit (thats what forums are for right, sharing experience) that your feeding regime seems to be WAY to much.
From the past 16 years we've been breeding these guys, we've spoken with dozens of keepers with various diets and all I can/wan't to say, without starting the same old fish/mice discussion again, is that not many where succesful breeders (succesful as in breeding many years in a row and then still having live adults that live well up to 15/20 years of age without breeding....)
Hope you'll understand

[Chondro788]

I waited a little while before posting as I didn't want this to become a pissing match about feeding this or that. I will say that 95% of my animals are fed an all rodent diet, and thrive with this diet. As for the albino red sided being young and having a "baby face", the anery red sided I posted is the same age, and the albino sirtalis is a 2011 animal. I breed animals that are of size and want to breed. If they don't breed, I just figure the female is not ready.

The female that died was thin and was having runny stool. She was taken to the vet and a fecal exam was done, we treated her for parasites, but unfortunately she died. In my experience with all snakes, meds can some times work wonders, while other specimens seem to have reactions and die from meds. You have to remember all snakes have parasites in thier bodies, so if we kill off all the natural flora, there can be consequenses, but if a snake is not putting on weight, and having nasty bowel movements, then meds have to be tried.

I speak to many breeders in the US and I would say all feed atleast some rodents, if not all rodents, to their snakes as a staple of their diet. They have good success in breeding, and I will continue a rodent diet until I find it does not work. I used to try and be more scientific with my animals, mostly boids, and keep weight records and all that. That is fine if you enjoy watching the numbers. I have since decided its not for me, and I just watch my animals closely and let them tell me what to do, when to feed, when to breed, when to put in and take out of brumation, ect.

I will, of course, keep the forum updated on how all of the females do, might even update my webpage . This is my favorite time of year, I enjoy seeing the gravid females, and really enjoy seeing the baby pics. So I will contribute when I can, as I hope others enjoy seeing the pics as well.

Sorry for the long post, and for getting off topic a few times...

[EasternGirl]

One of my snakes is possibly gravid...and I know she probably also looks overweight to some. I feed her a lot...a couple of pinkies every 4-5 days. She's a big girl with a healthy appetite to begin with and she needs to feed those babies...I can't deny her food or put her on a diet in good conscience while she is gravid. I think in the case of a gravid female...better to be somewhat overweight than underweight for the sake of the young.

[RicMartin]

Great snakes Jason, good luck with all. I love the hypo-ery one, great color!

[Chondro788]

Well I have had a few litters born in the past week or so.
The female Albino Redsided dropped her babies, she ended up with 10, but some were still born. Almost seems like she dropped them early.
Same kinda of story with my Snow sirtalis. I ended up with 4 Erythristics that are 100% het snow. There were some still borns in this litter as well.
Then just yesterday my Double Het Snow Redsided dropped a nice litter. I ended up with 2 normals (66% poss het snow), 7 albinos (66% poss het snow) and 3 snows. Cool thing is, the male was an albino from Jeff Benfer that was poss het snow, and he proved out to be het. So the snows were a little bit of a surprise.
Anyways, I will get pics up soon of the babies.

[tress29]

Congrats on the population explosion!

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like busy times ahead.