Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

I have been anxiously awaiting the final results of this litter for MONTHS and in all reality for the last 4.5 years I've spent raising my pair up!! I have read quite a bit of speculation and opinions claiming that if you give females an extra year+ of growth and take things slowly, never powerfeed etc. and raise them up to a nice healthy size before ever trying to breed them that they will produce bigger healthier litters. While I can't say this is true with any certainty (as this is my first litter ever) it did seem to follow that trend with this litter.

My female gave birth yesterday to 25, YES that is 25 baby brbs!!!!! They were 100% full term and when I found them they had already dispersed throughout the cage and taken over just about every inch of the mother's cage. I did not find any slugs or stillborns in the litter but I have no way of knowing for sure whether or not Roxxy consumed any slugs before I got to them, though judging by the hugely deflated look of Roxxy and her willingness to take down a med/lrg rat I believe that there were probably few if any slugs delivered. I fortunately was very much prepared for the arrival of these babies. I had a baby rack ready which I built this summer with a herpstat pro and already wired with heat tape and space for up to 33 tubs. It took a couple hours last night to sort the babies and get them each into their own tub with a nice full water dish. I only got bitten probably 10 times in all yesterday and of that only a couple even drew any blood (looked like a shaving cut, hardly noticable).

Needless to say, this was a VERY VERY exciting discovery to come home to after a long annoying day of work. I have my hands full with sweet, snappy, loving little BRBs to get all feeding and ready to go! I am way excited!!!! Today after work I will be running out to a local rodent suppliers place and picking up litle hoppers for each baby and then the fun begins!!

Anyway, sorry for my rambling and extreme excitement, I'll stop for now and post up the real crappy pics I snapped as I discovered mom and her babies yesterday afternoon, I know they're blurry, too bad hahaha I was way excited and I'm sure shaking the camera!

P.S. BIG thanks to all of you rainbow boa experts who have answered my endless questions over the years and provided me with all kinds of information. Also, special thanks to Will Bird, Dave Colling, and Bryan Hummel for providing me with a great starting breeding stock.

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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

Dugo 06' Proven Male

Roxxy 06' proven female, all pics were taken while she was gravid

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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

Thanks a lot Cliff, I'm super stoked!! It should be a fun next couple of months! I just went from having 5 mouths to feed to 30 in one day haha!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

>>Hey all,
>>
>>I have been anxiously awaiting the final results of this litter for MONTHS and in all reality for the last 4.5 years I've spent raising my pair up!! I have read quite a bit of speculation and opinions claiming that if you give females an extra year of growth and take things slowly, never powerfeed etc. and raise them up to a nice healthy size before ever trying to breed them that they will produce bigger healthier litters. While I can't say this is true with any certainty (as this is my first litter ever) it did seem to follow that trend with this litter.
>>
>>My female gave birth yesterday to 25, YES that is 25 baby brbs!!!!! They were 100% full term and when I found them they had already dispersed throughout the cage and taken over just about every inch of the mother's cage. I did not find any slugs or stillborns in the litter but I have no way of knowing for sure whether or not Roxxy consumed any slugs before I got to them, though judging by the hugely deflated look of Roxxy and her willingness to take down a med/lrg rat I believe that there were probably few if any slugs delivered. I fortunately was very much prepared for the arrival of these babies. I had a baby rack ready which I built this summer with a herpstat pro and already wired with heat tape and space for up to 33 tubs. It took a couple hours last night to sort the babies and get them each into their own tub with a nice full water dish. I only got bitten probably 10 times in all yesterday and of that only a couple even drew any blood (looked like a shaving cut, hardly noticable).
>>
>>Needless to say, this was a VERY VERY exciting discovery to come home to after a long annoying day of work. I have my hands full with sweet, snappy, loving little BRBs to get all feeding and ready to go! I am way excited!!!! Today after work I will be running out to a local rodent suppliers place and picking up litle hoppers for each baby and then the fun begins!!
>>
>>Anyway, sorry for my rambling and extreme excitement, I'll stop for now and post up the real crappy pics I snapped as I discovered mom and her babies yesterday afternoon, I know they're blurry, too bad hahaha I was way excited and I'm sure shaking the camera!
>>
>>P.S. BIG thanks to all of you rainbow boa experts who have answered my endless questions over the years and provided me with all kinds of information. Also, special thanks to Will Bird, Dave Colling, and Bryan Hummel for providing me with a great starting breeding stock.
>>
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>>-----
>>Ike Lightner
>>
>>2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

.
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

The first time you find the lil slimers is a real kick in the pants. Let me tell you, it doesn't get old. I'm pacing on a female that was due last Thursday.

Depending on the distance to the local rodent supplier, you might want to either wait or only get 15. It's likely that not all will eat so soon. Sometimes yes but not always. Being full term babies you have better odds but if you wait a week the odds will go up even higher and they will be fine waiting that long.
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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 (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hey thanks Dave, and you make some real good points. Ha, in my excitement I hadn't even considered the fact that maybe I ought to let them chill for a few days, absorb whats left of the yolk in their bellies, and then offer them up food. I think I will do just that, and also probably will be wise not to buy 1 hopper for every single baby this first go round.
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

Always happy to help and especially so when people actually listen!!

Worst case is you get too few and one or more babies go hungry until next time. They will NOT starve in a week, or a month, or even several months. I had one baby BRB go 4 months from birth before it finally had it's first meal. (it's choice, not mine) It was not wasting away, on the contrary, it looked and weighed the same as when it was born, just didn't grow any. Not typical by any means but when you produce many, many babies you will see the oddballs at the extreme ends of the bell curve. This one was a little on the slow side (stupid) and had to eventually be taught how to eat. Had it been born in the wild I suspect it would not have survived.
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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 (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Had it been born in the wild I suspect it would not have survived.

Dave,
....Very good point. As babies these snakes are highly vulnerable to predators. They eat a bunch and grow rapidly and are much safer when larger. The number of predators that can capture and kill an adult BRB is extremely small compared to the number that can eat a baby one. The longer a snake stays little the more time it is in danger of being eaten by all those predators. The BRB's good appetite and rapid growth rate are probably genetically programmed to assure higher numbers of them survive to reproduce. The very few babies we see that do not thrive may have been born with some sort of internal birth defect. Some of them do start eating late and then do fine. And that all just makes me think about how much we do not know about these snakes.
Jeff

Using Dave's expert advise, I decided to just buy 15 hoppers on my first feeding go round with the new babies. I decided to just offer the first 15 newborns a hopper and then figured I'd take any uneaten hoppers and move them to the next unfed baby from there. Well, all 15 struck and consricted their hoppers on the first go round, though it was quite comical and uncoordinated for probably half of them but they eventually got it. Oddly enough, 3 of the newborns that struck and constricted their hoppers ended up just killing the mouse and not swallowing it. I think that either they were just confused, or maybe the hoppers were a little bit too large for them.....I'm not totally sure. In all, I feel pretty good about these results so far. I will be getting another round of hoppers next week and working on getting the remaining 13 their first meals and the 12 who've already eaten once their second meal. Gotta love how snappy these little guys are, they seem to think they're big enough to actually do some damage or something.
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

That is somewhat normal for first timers to strike, constrict and then leave it. Part of the learning curve I guess.

IMO people place too much importance on feeding them right away and or continuing to offer if they don't eat. "Poor little thing will starve if not fed" I offer food weekly, when it's feeding day for the older babies, the new ones are offered. Any that don't eat go hungry until the following week. By keeping individual record cards I can tell if I have a baby that is not eating well. I only record sheds and feeds so those with few entries stick out as their siblings accumulate entries.

Yeah, they are scrappy lil things but in the wild they need to be to ward off predators. Better for them to take the preemptive strike and set the tone that they are not to be messed with.
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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 (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Yay, babies! Looks great so far!

Congrats Ike, they all look great
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Zack Greens Reptiles

Hey, thanks Zack. I can't wait to see how they look after their first shed!!!
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

Grats on the awesome litter. I bet you're right that waiting the extra year produced a larger first litter. I can't wait to see some individual post shed baby pics.

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Paul D

www.MoonlightBoas.com

Thanks Paul, I am right there with you, I definitely cant wait to see their individual post-shed pics. I think there is gonna be some beauts in the bunch, I've noticed a few that REALLY stand out so far.
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Ike Lightner

2.3 BRB (Dugo, Sultan, Roxy, Brazita, & Lucille)

Congrats on a very nice first litter!!

Dan