Well sadly the second little FTT scrub died this morning

[ProXimuS]

Sorry to hear about another loss Still happy to hear about the other 10 doing well!

SilasBannook they are Easterns. That's part of the reason it was so shocking

[lauwersp]

Frank: Little Offender just jumped the other. I think we've come to the conclusion that it was because I haven't been washing them after eating. I've had to "unhook" them multiple times during communal feeding. I watch them like a HAWK when I'm feeding them.

Thanks for the condolences everyone. Hopefully all the rest are gonna be ok.

[SilasBannook]

Thanks for the response. I had only have to separate my snakes once. Thankfully I was right there and they are both fine. In my case, I wasn't communal feeding but my little guy had some pinkie juice on his face when I put him in his enclosure with my other wandering snake. Apparently big guys was still hungry. Ever since then I make a point to always drop my snakes in their water dish after eating to allow them to "wash-off". The little guys do take a bit of time to manage when it comes to that. I expect this post will help flag others to the significance of watching snakes during communal feeding. As well as cleaning them off a bit if feeding something other than fish in water.

[lauwersp]

Frank...

I agree... knowledge is power. While no one has been hurt during my feedings, that's because I do watch them. I only knew to do this because with my first two garters a couple years ago, I was feeding them live fish and from the start I was warned (by this group of course) that feeding them together would result in the snake that snagged the fish waving it around in front of the other who would invariably strike at the other end of the captured fish and like the scene in Lady and the Tramp where they each start at one of a strand of spaghetti and meet in the middle, these guys would do the same, the difference being instead of ending in a kiss it ends in one snake inadvertently eating the other with 2 deaths being the result.

I saw the same general behavior with the scrubs even though their pieces of food were much smaller... once a scrub grabs a chunk of worm or fish and lifts their head in excitement and start running around, it attracts the attention of other scrubs.

[Mommy2many]

Sorry to hear of your losses but you do have the remaining beautiful scrubs. That's why they have so many... Good luck with the squiggles!