THE AGE (Melbourne, Australia) 19 December 07 Cadbury the sea snake's surprise pregnancy (Chee Chee Leung)
The potential wriggling of a baby sea snake was spotted for the first time yesterday as Melbourne Aquarium staff conducted a routine ultrasound of the mum-to-be.
Cadbury was found to be pregnant about four months ago - a discovery that was a surprise to staff who had thought the six-year-old Hardwick's sea snake was a male.
Veterinarian Dr Rob Jones said the expectant reptile was carrying about three or four eggs, with the latest ultrasound revealing some movement in one of the eggs.
"The only thing we can put that down to is that there's a live snake inside the egg," he said. "We've got somewhere between two and four months to go, so we're getting close."
Cadbury, thought to be the first pregnant sea snake in captivity in the world, was placed in isolation a month ago to keep her and the developing babies safe.
Hardwick's sea snakes give birth to live young that hatch from eggs inside the mother, and 24-hour video monitoring of Cadbury's tank has been installed in readiness for the big day.
The father, Campbell, remains on display in the coral atoll with the aquarium's third Hardwick's sea snake, a female known as Shar.
Meantime, the aquarium will continue regular check-ups of Cadbury, who has been showing unusual swimming behaviour, and has lost her appetite for fish.
"She's not eating very much, but then we don't know whether pregnant sea snakes suffer from morning sickness or not," Dr Jones said.
"So general health is maybe not as good as we'd like it to be, but everything with the pregnancy seems to be progressing well."
Cadbury the sea snake's surprise pregnancy