Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a premature litter of jungles today and I was wondering what may have caused this. I know there probably multiple reasons. However, since I have limited experience and this is my first premature litter I am looking for some answers so I don't repeat any mistakes. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Here is a photo of the mother.

Thanks for your help

Steve Ihrig - sdi

Sorry to hear that Steve.
!!!
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Joel Pretz

Thanks man. Better luck next time!

I'm so sorry to hear that Steve 8(
I have a friend that has had some litters before with premature drops and his VET. said that the main reasons can be mainly the temps and stress! Sometimes the females might go back to their hot spot if they feel stressed in any way.. This could inclued dirty caging. Some people feel not to disturb the gravid females at all during the whole time when ovulation starts. Having a clean cage with good humidity will always keep a snake happy! Im not saying you probably didn't do that but I think a very clean cage and a cage ready with the bumped up heat for gravid females should insure a healthy litter. But again sometimes that is still not the case mabey she just wasn't ready for that one. Im sure you treat your snakes like their your kids so I bet none of your collection gets stressed! Good Luck next time! 8)
Later,
JAKE

I have to agree with you about maintaining a proper environment. She was in a boaphile cage so keeping the humidity at the proper levels is pretty easy. I also like to keep the cages clean when they are gravid (not that I have had too many gravid females with my limited experience). I used newspaper with aspen bedding over it so when she would go from one side to the other I would replace it in sections. I did not feed her alot during her pregnancy so she did not mess up the cage much anyway. Thanks for taking the time to reply. It has been helpful and will help me in the future.

Feeding a gravid female on too large a prey item can cause them to abbort the young prematurely ,due to the extra pressure on the snake

I have heard that as well. During her pregnancy I fed her one jumbo rat every two to three weeks mainly to supplement her weight loss. I did not feed her in the five weeks prior to the birth. Her pre-birth weight was 25 lbs and she is about eight feet long so one jumbo rat is not much of a meal. Thanks for your input. I really appreciate that you took time to reply.

The babies still had a large amount of yolk left. I am guessing the pills(7) were considered full. They were pretty soft. I don't believe the male was pulled early. I witnessed the ovulation and she had a nice and long p.o.s.

The pregnancy was pretty text book except for two things. First, the male was only eighteen months old when breeding began. This may be an issue however I have heard of alot of males doing the job at that age. Second, the female did go through an additional shed cycle about half way through the pregnancy. Again, I have heard of this happening before with no significant affect being reported.

Now that you have mentioned the amount of remaining yolk it makes me wonder if it is a stress related issue. Although, I don’t know what would have stressed her, temps were good, humidity was good, plenty of fresh water, and other than some spot cleaning I never really entered the cage.

Thanks for the input it has raised some very interesting food for thought. I appreciate your help.

And what were her stats - weight/length ? You'd mentioned about the male being a young guy, but he obviously did his job and I don't think that he would contribute to the prematurity of the neonates. I happen to "matinence" clean as not to add stress. I also keep a towel or a peice of newspaper taped over most of the front of a gravid females cage. I think they like to be in a darker, secluded area without alot of visable traffic.
My original question about the age of the females, was because the only issues that I've had with premies or high slug counts were from a couple of females that I tried to breed at 2 1/2 -3 yrs of age and under 10lbs. Anything that I've bred that were 31/2 -4yrs and older with proper weight have all done well for me. However, I do feed items every 2-3 weeks as you do, but I don't give anything over a med/lg rat. I think a jumbo is kinda large even with longer feeding periods - but I don't know for sure if that, or any of this info is a factor. Hopefully it was just a fluke and she'll give great litters in the future. Take care, David
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I'm just the snake room janitor

She was 3 1/2 years old, eight feet long, and 25 lbs when the breeding season began. I keep all of my boas in a low traffic area, they only see me. Thanks for the tip on covering the front of the cage. I have seen it done in photos before. I will start doing that from now on. Maybe it will help next time.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Perfect looking BCI though, very light & clean.

My hog is due in a few weeks. I'm slightly concerned because she
hasn't eaten at all since she became pregnent. Last year she
didn't have any slugs. Her litter was perfect but she DID eat
occasionally.

She let me know to clean her cage. She got really active &
wanted to get out of her cage which I thought was unusual but
I let her out. I saw that she had pooped in her cave, so I cleaned it completely & then she totally settled down again.

I'm waiting for the waxy stool...