Suddenly- Babies!

[ThamGirl]

Some of you may have heard about my two sick garters- a fungal skin infection that I've been battling for a while now. The male finally passed away yesterday morning, but when I went to give the female her medicine today I had a surprise! Seven tiny pairs of eyes looked at me from the quarantine tank, and mama looked so proud of herself! I quickly transferred them into a temp baby tank, checked on mama and fed her (she was soooooo hungry), and then did a check on the babies. All healthy, no deformities, no jellies, all very active and happy looking! One of them is super high contrast (the picture doesn't really do it justice at all), and one of them is super super dark. I'm so excited! I was really caught off guard by this, but I should have listened to my gut when I started thinking she was gravid. I'll be checking the babies regularly to make sure they didn't contract the skin infection, but so far I have high hopes!
Babies1.jpg


I can't help but think- if my smallest female can have seven happy, healthy little babies this late in the year when she was sick- what will my big female have next year?
I'm gonna work on their actual tank now! Can't wait to get them settled in.
Question though- when do you all start feeding them? I offered them some fish and worm pieces today, but no one was interested. I figure I'll offer some every day or so, as well as get them some guppies to go after.

[guidofatherof5]

Congrats. Baby scrubs are awesome.

Every day or so would be good. I offer food on day 2 and every day after that, while other wait a week or two before they offer. I've had babies start eating on day two and others that waited a week or two.
It's just my opinion but I believe there is a short window of opportunity to get some babies to eat. I don't want to miss any windows, so I offer early.

[jwolfe152]

im sorry to hear about your male, but very excited for your new scrubs...i guess its the circle of life right in you house(thats just a good thought to have) if im not mistaken you can feed whenever if they have trouble people say to put some feeder fish in some shallow water and individually feed them. but now i see you already know that lol. but im glad there are no signs of infection. lets all just hope it stays that way. congratulation again

[jwolfe152]

also i would start asap as steve said, i mean even in the wild the babies leave the mother to fend for themself in just a few days so im sure they can and will eat day one occasionally

[ThamGirl]

Alright- thanks for the advice! I'll make some mixed food for them and freeze it into small servings to make my life easier. I'll have to pick up some pinkies and more silversides tomorrow to really make a good blend.

[jwolfe152]

ive never thought about blending the pinky i might even try that and worms for mine

[ThamGirl]

ive never thought about blending the pinky i might even try that and worms for mine

I got the idea from some people here- tiny pinkie parts mixed with worm and fish parts. Nice, rounded diet that should encourage them to not be such picky eaters. ^_^

[Light of Dae]

That's what I do! I'll use an ice cube tray with just enough water to hold everything together. Nice bite size pieces of everything. Worms I add fresh... Hahaha never try to freeze worms unless you like goo...

I do frozen mixes of pinkies and fish, pinkies and chicken heart, chicken heart and fish. and sometimes I just feed worms

[guidofatherof5]

Worms + freezing = a pile of goo.

[ThamGirl]

I'll keep the worm problem in mind. XD
We did chicken hearts and livers for our sick babies when I was younger- it seemed to really give them a kick start and get them interested in eating actual food.