Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Early this morning and today, all three albino Roswells from Tuesday's litter died...

The one, I expected to die...he came out half the size of the others, strangled in his umbilical...

The other two, were doing very well at birth, but I noticed them moving slowly this morning, and finally found them dead this afternoon...

They had very large yolks, just like the three 66% het Roswells, but unlike those three, the two albinos didn't seem to be absorbing their yolk...they seemed to have the same amount of yolk when they died as when they were born on Tuesday...

The yolks of all the other babies, albinos, and Roswells, are going down nicely or gone and they are all alert and well...

The babies did have access to a large belly heat hot spot to cook off the yolk...

I was very worried about this litter, as I moved the female from California to Colorado early in her pregnancy...don't know if that would have done anything....

I also considered the fact that the parents were siblings...but since there were no eye problems or other defects in any of the other siblings, it doesn't make sense...

So my question to everyone, is what do you think happened? I'm just trying to get some sense of why only the albino Roswells died...seems a little too convenient for freak chance that all the other babies are healthy...

Any opinions welcomed...
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Heather Martin
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It happens, sucks it was the best of the best, but that is Murphys law.

When I have large yolks that I think will hinder the life of a baby I squeeze it out. I have lots of experience with baby ball pythons with jelly bellies and hard solidified yolks and have done it many numerous times. I think the yolks are too much pressure on the animal itself and they succumb to it.
I have saved a lot of little ones for sure by squeezing it out gently. If you dont think you can do it, dont try.

I have alot of experience with the ball pythons so I tried it a few times on baby boas born here and it worked for a good number of them. I re-read previous post and it sounded like I only did it to ball pythons.

It'd be nice if you wouldn't mind going into a little more detail
about just how you go about squeezing the yolk out succeessfully.
I've never heard this mentioned,your serious right? LOL
. . . . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

Heather I am really sorry to hear that happened.

So sorry to hear that Heather. I've read others state the "morph" babies seem to have a higher mortality rate with preemies. Maybe that's part of it, mother natures way of weeding out the less desireable (in the wild) ones.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I've noticed the albinos in most Kahl albino litters seem to have bigger bellies than their normal colored siblings...I'm thinking maybe the combination of Roswell/albino/being an F2 is just too much...

I hope that outcrossing will solve this problem...
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Heather Martin
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Heather:

I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

Obviously it's very hard to say why they died, but one thing I would recommend in the future would be to ligate or tie off and remove the umbilical chord when you see the yoke still attacheed.

I worked as an animal health technician for 9 years. One of the basic practices when delivering baby animals is to remove the yoke sack from the baby animal. Draging around the yoke sack can cause an umbilical hernia and bring on undue stress to the baby animal. In my opinion this goes for puppies, kittens, chicks, and snakes.

As a snake breeder I have had to deal with this situation many times with premature births and feel that the removal of the yoke sack immediately after the snake was born or hatched has greatly improved the babies chances for survival.

Again I'm so sorry for the pain and frustration you must be experiencing.

Sincerely

Brian
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

Brian, I didn't word my original post very well, sorry...the only one with the external yolk was the very small one that was wound up in his umbilical...the yolk fell apart when I was unwinding him...

The other two albino Roswells just had really, really big bellies compared to the others...for some reason they just didn't seem to be absorbing it at all...
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Heather Martin
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Heather:

Thanks for clarfyng that.

Sorry.

Brian
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

..
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Adrian De Leon
Hissenia Reptiles

I love your project. Good luck with those other litter ones.
Michael Burton

Dave may be on to something. I lost only one out of a litter like that this year and of course it was one of the albino arabs who had a know in his cord. I also agree that removing the yolk immediately is the correct method. Again I am sorry you had to experience this. It is never easy losing any animal.

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Ty
Rat Race Solutions
www.ratracesolutions.com

Thank you, everyone.

I am trying to keep some perspective, I still have 23 wonderful healthy babies here...
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Heather Martin
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Sorry about this sad problem Heather.Good luck
with the rest and good luck in the future with
these beauties!
. . . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com