Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Quite simply...I know I have a gravid anery girl that could drop any day now, or might not drop for a few weeks, I'm sure you all know how that goes! lol All I have to go by is her ovulation date of April 4th.

This weekend though, I'll be gone to the Daytona show and I'll be gone for about four days. I have someone house sitting, but they are someone who thinks snakes are cool to look at, but doesn't want to touch them.

What I'm thinking right now, is just to pull the cypress mulch that I normally have in the cage out and put down moss in it before I leave and I would think they should be okay. The cage does have a misting system hooked up to it and runs for one minute in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Or I might just make sure the cypress all through the cage is dampened and then on the warm end of the cage, which is under the misting nozzle, put moss on that end.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Due date guesses (lol)?

Thanks!
Charlie

I have come home from vacation many times to find babies born. As long as the cage is good for mom, the babies will be fine.

I DO place a inverted clay dish in the water bowl with the water level only a half inch taller then the clay dish. Gives babies something for traction to get out just in case in case they are born in or manage to fall into the water bowl. I do this with all my females when I think they are within 10 days of their due date.
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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

Thanks Dave, the water bowl was something that I hadn't given any thought to. I think they could probably get out of it okay, but better to be on the safe side so I'll definitely follow your advice. Have to stop by walmart on the way home tonight anyways, so I can find something to put in their water bowl while I'm there.

Thanks!
Charlie

i agree with the water bowl recommendation. if the female throws a baby into the water bowl and it has an issue coming out of it's membrane, it may drown. on a side note, i was fortunate enough to watch one of my female give birth the other day. she showed extreme interest in the babies after she had them. she was nosing them when they were inside the membrane. did not eat the slugs oddly enough. was more interested in the live babies. i was a bit nervous because i thought she showed a bit too much interest in the live babies but maybe she was just curious. what a treat!

Very cool that you've been able to watch a rainbow giving birth, I've found them very quickly after, but not during. I did manage to catch a rosy boa once as she was just beginning to drop her litter...was very interesting to watch her going back, breaking egg sacks, nosing at babies to get them crawling around...pretty much once they started crawling off she would be done with that one and move on to the next.

I'm definitely going to start using a shallow amount of water compared to what I normally put in along with placing something in the tub that I use for their waterbowl for the babies to use if they need it.

On a different but same note...I had a taiwan beauty snake lay her clutch of eggs last night...in her water bowl. Bummer!

Charlie

I've been having the same problem here, as I have 4 gravid girls that could go any day. I am leaving for a 2 week vacation next week and with my luck they will wait until I am gone to give birth.

Like others have said, pretty much all I can do is make sure the water is "safe" and hope for the best. I do have someone coming to check a week after I leave so that helps a bit.
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Aubrey Ross

www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

Wow, two weeks, you may come home to freshly shed babies!!

I would suspect that with a roper cage and access to little water dishes they would still be just fine. Been doing this for millions of years without our "help".
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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

And I thought I was concerned about just a few days and looking for idea's on how to make the cage a little more "baby friendly"! lol

I'll probably dump some extra water in the cage before I leave to really ramp up the moisture level in there and still thinking about leaving a big ball of damp moss in the two back corners, other than that I think I'll be okay along with what I've done to make their water bowl/tub safer.

Good luck with all the litters you have on the way and hope you have a great vacation!

Charlie