Posted by:
ZoeS
at Mon Aug 17 18:57:07 2009 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ZoeS ]
A few months ago, one of my adult female SIGBs passed 19 stillborn babies. No slugs, no signs of life. They looked perfectly formed. I asked around, and was told that the issue might have been with the lack of a real moist hide. I promptly added one to all my cages - in fact, the adults females all got two (a big one and a smaller "tight" one).
Last night, my other adult female passed a dozen or so (I didn't count) half formed babies with yolk, and slugs.
This seems like more than bad luck, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. They are in 3 x 2 x 2 birch plywood - sealed with waterbourne varathane - cages, side vents, ambient air temperature is around 85F, with a cool side of 82F, and a warm side of 88F. Three hides per cage (one large moist hide, one "tight" moist hide, and one dry hide), as well as a shelf in the cage. Water bowl large enough for soaking (but they don't soak much).
I spray them once a day, feed them f/t once every 14 days - meals are smallish, just enough to leave a discernible lump.
Are the cages too big? Too warm (they have a wide gradient and the snakes don't seem to cram to the hot side or cool side)? Is there some sort of nutritional deficiency that stems from reptile eaters eating rodents?
Any insight would be much appreciated!
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