Tips on caring forbaby garters

[ScimitarX]

Hi guys,

im pretty sure that my albino checkered is gravid, she is very fat at the back end of her body and it is quite easy to see and feel lumps. As this will be my first time breeding garters myself i have a few questions. Should i provide a nesting box for her to have the babies in? How soon should i separate the male from her? How many babies is it possible for them to have? They werent brumated and this pregnancy is a bit unexpected, so should this cause any problems

This will be the females third litter as she had two lots of babies(1 lot last year and the other lot the year before last) with the person i bought her from earlier in the year.
Also the babies should be a mixture of normals/albinos or hets because she was mated by my normal morph.

[zooplan]

Its usual that garters give birth while sliding araound in the enclosure.
Some more hiding-places would be comfortable to the babies.
Because you don´t know when the gravidity started you should seperate the male now.
Clutch size depends on many different causes, the females size is very important, 10 to 30 hatchlings would be normal.

[Gijs & Sabine]

That's great news, Claire!! How exciting
It shouldn't be a problem that you haven't brumate them. And because it's her third time to have babies there shouldn't be any problems at al
Sometimes the first lot is not so good.

Good luck and let us now what happens!!

[adamanteus]

Congratulations, Claire. I concur with Udo...separate her from the male straight away. Don't want any nasty accidents!

[Lori P]

Will the males eat the babies? For that matter, do the mothers ever eat the babies?

[adamanteus]

Males can sometimes eat the babies....not all species, but some do. T. marcianus is one that does this, had it happen to me in the past. I've never heard of the mother eating the babies, but others might know differently.

[ScimitarX]

Thanks. I will seperate them ASAP

These last couple of days the female has been very quiet, constantly hiding in one of the hides, shes usually very active especially in the evenings, so i'm wondering if she is preparing to shed.

[CrazyHedgehog]

I have found that the mother goes off food before giving birth, and then for a short while after, maybe intended to stop them from eating their own.

[ssssnakeluvr]

its rare, but mothers can eat them....I have heard of wandering garters occasionally doing it... I keep the gravid girls separate and remove the babies as soon as she is done giving birth....won't take any chances.

[anji1971]

I remember when mine gave birth, I found her on the opposite end of the tank staring at the baby and looking completely shocked (a 'what the hell just happened?' kind of expression!) I didn't know anything about snake births at the time, but I removed the little one anyway just to be sure. At that time I didn't even realise that one baby was not the norm.....never did find out exactly what happened there!