[continued from above]
Following are some image of individual babies, both as they were discovered and as they were later processed.
I spotted this baby as it was making a break from the hide to explore:
This little one found its very own piece of moss, and wanted to show it off and say hi when I opened the viv:
(For some reason, it came across as very dark in this one photo.)
Jailbreak!
Afterbirth
This is the hide where Alex dropped, just before I cleaned it up. Mom was very polite to make cleanup so easy for me:
(and)
Details, Details
I’ve hinted already that Mom did well by herself and her late husband Hills. I’ve spoken with many breeders over the years and carefully tracked birth weights, both reported on the web and averaged over the cards of the babies I’ve acquired. The average litter seems to be around 15-16 babies, and the average baby clocks in around 31 grams. Alex beat both stats: she delivered 17 viable babies with not a single stillborn or slug, and the live babies averaged 32.7 grams in a very narrow range, with the smallest at 31 grams and the largest at 34 grams. There was not a single baby with unabsorbed yolk, and every one of them was already showing bright pink bellies.
Mom herself was in great shape. I’ve seen reports and pictures of many recent mothers showing loose folds of skin after dropping (Topaz was this way), but Alex was both tight and muscular. It amazes me, because after I weighed the babies I checked her too, and found that she had dropped from a pre-delivery weight of 2342 grams (August 31) down to 1390 (September 14) -- a loss of 1033 grams, or 44% of her body weight. Yet she looked like this:
Left Side
Right Side
I gave her 36 hours to recover and rest, then offered her a medium rat. She took it with gusto, and seems to in great shape and spirits. I’ll probably up her feeding slightly to every other week for the next two meals before going back to her regular pattern of every third week.
And, The Sad News
There was one small bit of sad news from the litter. As I was taking pictures during my second set, I noticed one of the babes was…different. And not in a good way. One of little ones pressed against the front of the glass was acting alive, alert, and trying to climb the front of Mom’s viv just like her normal bothers and sisters. Unfortunately, she had a severe spinal kink about 25% of the way down her body. It was bad enough that I doubted she one would be able to eat. A vet I know offered to try and fix her spine by separating the fused vertebrae. I was not optimistic about the chances for success, but it was (very generously) free, and at least offered her a shot, so I gave the go-ahead. The vet did his work, and I placed the little one in her own moist little drawer before I headed off to work. The last thing I did that night was to check again on her, and found that unfortunately she had not made it. RIP little one. You have a very cool father waiting for you on the other side.
I took some photos of her, but will place them in separate thread here tomorrow so as not to spoil his one. I’d be curious to get other breeders’ opinions on what her chances would have been if I’d allowed her to try and make it without help.
Note she was not counted in the above totals of viable babies. So, there were actually 18 live babies with no stills or slugs, 17 of which made it.
Details on genders are still to follow, as are some more individual baby shots.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
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