Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a clearly gravid female KSB about 5 months ago. It had apparently given birth to babies in the store not too long before I bought her. In fact they gave me a baby we found in the cage while we were digging her out. they didn't know it was in there.

I assumed she would give birth around now and just found something odd in her cage. She passed have a dozen or so "slugs" or unfertilized ova. Addtionally, there were 3 or 4 partially developed babies as well. they were VERY small but definitely there. It's as if they stopped their development relatively soon into gestation.

She seems fine. She's lost ALOT of weight and has lots of loose skin. She's been drinking a lot and I'll get food in her pretty heavily through the winter.

I've never seen anything like this before. Anyone seen anything like this? Is it possible these were unpassed still births and they have been in here since the other babies were born?

Matt

Little confused on this post.

My best guess is that the baby you found was not hers. They don't sound like they pay attention to details, so something slipped by.

I have heard of undeveloped eggs being retained for up to a whole year, but it is extrememly rare. Never heard about a reliable case in kenyans. Never heard about retained babies. Usually when eggs/babies are retained it causes problems pretty quickly.

Kenyans are pretty hardy. For the babies to be lost some drastic things had to go wrong. Its not too uncommon to lose unfertilized eggs, but developing babies usually finish the race. I may have 1 dead born among 100 live babies.

Maybe Scott Miller, Jason Hess or someone else can add something to this?
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Travis Rose
Lazy S Snake Ranch
3.7 Kenyan sand boas (various morphs)
1.2 Indian sand boas
0.3 Dogs
0.1 Cat
X.X Fish
0.1 Very understanding wife
2.0 Future Snake Lovers

i doubt the baby in the cage at teh store was hers. given what you found it sounds like a gravid female that wasnt kept at optimal temps for gestation, at least at the pet store. thanks, scott erycine1@aol.com