Rainbow Babies!!!

On Monday, August 15, Living Gems was pleased to welcome the DuVall-Nephrite litter to this world. Mom delivered a large litter of 19 little nippers, who spent the morning and afternoon eagerly exploring their new world.

Dad DuVall is an orange stunner that traces his bloodline back to 50% Howard Leong stock:

DuVall is a first-time dad, and seemed rather unimpressed when I told him the good news.

Mom Nephrite is a solid orange girl from a local breeder:

Her last litter numbered 16, of which only 12 made it, so this is a solid upgrade.

The enclosure looked like this when I found the little ones:

And, a bit later (note the baby at the back):


Here a few baby closeups:



(Fascinating factoid: Nephrite’s gravid period was *exactly* the same length as her last breeding at 107 days. Moreover, her post ovulation shed and delivery date were both off by only a single day from last time. The award for consistency goes to….)

Congrats to the parents for a job well done.

Thank you for reading,

Congrats on a solid litter! Baby BRB's are just too cute!

Congrats! Awesome litter! DuVall is indeed a stunner.

Beautiful babies. And if that one in the back with mouth WIDE open is any indication, you have your hands full! LOL Congrats.

Can't wait to see their individual profiles =)

Congrats! The babies are adorable!

Thank you all so much! The babies are working through their anti-finger stage. Baby 03 is the hellion of the litter. First session was mouth agape the whole time, ready to slay any finger nearby. Last session, I think 14 out of 19 had a go at my hand, and a few even had a go at the spray bottle. ;-) Good thing they calm down fast with regular, gentle handling!

That is amazing. Good thing they have you looking after them. They are completely out of my league.

Fabulous! Glad to hear they are feeding well (on their starter finger diet).

Thank you. And they are within *any* keeper's league -- their care requirements are far overblown! ;-)