Last Supper

[guidofatherof5]

I just lost a little female that ate very well yesterday. I thought I had her over the tough stage. She's been one of those slow eaters.
I know that she probably had underlying issues but it's still upsetting to lose a nice little scrub.

[Tyrel26]

sorry to hear it

We save the ones we can and remember the ones we can't

[Stefan-A]

Sorry to hear that.

[Hollis_Steed]

Sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how tough that must be.

[ConcinusMan]

Sorry steve. I've had that happen many times before. They finally get around to eating, then eating seems to kill them. So sorry.

[The Snake Whisperer]

It also could be that these failure to thrive babies also have some kind of defect that can't be seen from the outside. I've always suspected immune system deficiencies to be a root cause of many unexplained conditions in animals, science has barely discovered the tip of the iceberg of knowledge of the immune system. Other possible factors are toxins or infection of the babies before birth.
I've had some of those "born anorexic" babies and also some babies that simply weren't strong enough to break out of their sacs who still died shortly after birth. Comparisons of numbers born versus numbers lost might give a good idea of how common these situations really are. I suspect that the numbers of babies lost in the wild to these two conditions is fairly high, but have never seen any statistics.

[ConcinusMan]

Yes, I do believe that many of the little ones that are lost due to "failure to thrive" had fatal defects the day they were born, or developed fatal defects during development after birth. There's not much you can do to prevent losing a few. Still, I found that those losses were reduced by feeding them small soft meals, often, instead of letting them gorge. Gives their system a chance to develop before pushing it to work hard for digestion. Number of babies lost in the wild is extremely high, that's why wild garters tend to have a lot of babies. Wild concinnus in NW Oregon/SW WA tend to have 25-50 offspring. I guess, to compensate.

Still, 'failure to thrive' babies from litters I've had in the past were fairly few. Out of the largest litter of 54, 40 made it to their first birthdays and beyond.(they were all born very small) Out of a litter of say, 25, all but 4 or 5 made it.(they were fairly big babies at birth)

[guidofatherof5]

I have two little radixes and two concinnus babies that may be suffering from this "last supper" syndrome. I've watched these 4 babies shy away from the food dish and also refuse all my attempts to feed them otherwise. This morning when I offered Trout, 3 of the 4 ate but it may be too late.
I, at one time would force feed some of these little ones but have never had one survive for very long. For this reason I no longer force feed any babies
I sadly understand that nature knows best in many of these situations.

[drache]

perhaps what befell two of my younger males this spring could be put in the "last supper" category, since both perished after finally eating - just when I felt the relief which an apparent turn for the better brings
neither of these males had ever been frail though
it was their first mating season; it took me a bit long to get them to eat; one of them got thin, but the other looked normal; one had rodent, the other worm; both died within 24 hours of that first meal
it's been a bit of a depressing spring in terms of losses

[guidofatherof5]

Hang in there, Rhea.
Hoping better days are ahead.