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Giving birth after 6 years from a male...

GHC Exotics

GHC Exotics

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Hey guys, thought I would share this with you all. Today to much... much... MUCH suprise, as turning on our lights and getting ready to open the shop today, our Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) had a suprise happening. After over 6 years in captivity, and being in complete solitude the entire time, she was giving birth :) Obviously I was in shock, but, throughout the entire day, I took photos and videos of the process, as she pushed out 2 live babies and 11 slugs. One of the two babies is missing one eye, though seems healthy, while the other, larger one is visually healthy. I plan on trying to preserve if possible, the hardened slugs, to put on display at our exhibit, they are currently frozen until I find a solution for them. As for the babies, they are going to be kept on exhibit, and will hopefully stay alive for us, since we do not know exactly how old the mother is. She was an adult when we got her. Though nature is always suprising, this is definately one of the more interesting things that I have experienced while dealing with any species of reptiles. Below is a photo of the two babies shortly after being taken from mom. Hope you all find this as interesting as I did!! :)
 

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That is just amazing. I'd heard that snakes can hang onto sperm for up to two years, but 6???? That's crazy.
Wonder if there are any records of longer times (seriously you should approach the Guiness book of records...)
Congratulations anyway - really hope that both do well.
 
Yes, Ive heard many many times before about retaining for 1 or 2 years, but 6 just seems so out of the way! I would have assumed that the sperm would have died out by that long from the transfer, or just plainly not taken at all. Also, we had thought about the "what if" factor on parthenogenisis, but has anyone else heard of that from any reptiles? I personally havent, but Im up to hearing all thoughts and suggestions! These little ones have not been sexed, as we were both very shocked, and suprised, and we've never had plans to do any hot breeding lol. So far everyone that I have contacted about it cant come up with an explanation or theory other than amazingly being able to retain for that long!!
 
Yes, there are documented cases of parthenogenesis in reptiles...not positive whether those include snakes, but I'm pretty sure it has occured.
With parthenogenesis, you shouldn't get any male babies - so sexing the babies is the first step to getting an answer.
 
Even if the sex's are all female then there will still be no solid proof wether or not it is in fact partho. People will still be able to argue that its a coincedence that they're both female and that theres a slight posibility she was placed with a male during cleaning or that sperm somehow got into the cage. Cool event none the less.
 
No, all females would not be proof of parthenogenesis...but having a male baby would eliminate that possibility.
 
I will try to get the sex determined asap. But yes, Im sure there will be people to argue that fact either way. Though fact is, we have only had 1 diamondback for the entire 6 years. Also, living in Georgia, with most GA laws, we have no desire, or reason for breeding any venomous species. We cant sell them, so therefore there is no reason to take that time or up the amount of risk on daily cleaning or care with those animals. Hopefully there will be someway to tell what happened, because it was very interesting experience, and want as much information as possible.
 
Here are more photos from the birthing... As you can see from around her, she had several slugs, and there were even 2 that seemed like they were forming, but died early into it.. enjoy the pictures.. :) The first photo shows what I walked into Sunday Morning. She generally will not eat in front of people, or with the lights on, so I leave her meal inside the cage with her overnight, I first noticed the food remaining in the cage, then saw all the suprises second. I then removed the rodent, from the cage, and she continued the birthing process.
 

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If you can afford it DNA analysis would answer your question. I'm told it's possible to get DNA from freshly shed skins. Did you keep the slugs? there might be recoverable DNA in there.
 
Wow what an amazing story!

I'm also extremely curious if this was from stored sperm or parthenogenesis. I'd guess stored sperm, and that would also explain why so many slugs/stillbirths/deformities as the sperm deteriorated over time.

You should contact your local news!
 
Actually I did keep the slugs, they are all frozen in a container right now, I was hoping to figure out a way to preserve them for display purposes along with keeping the two babes for display. Im not even sure where to start to find out how much DNA testing would cost, though Im sure its far more than we have right now, funds stay tight as a small business!
But either way, it really is one of the more interesting things thats ever happened to me while dealing with reptiles, or heck, animals of any sort for that matter!!
Im hoping to do an update video as these babies progress, They seem to be doing decently well though.
 
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