Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This year was the first year I've bred my two anery sand boas. My female had a rather bad clutch, in part due to her refusing to eat for too long a period of time. of the five live babies born, 1 was a runt and didn't make it past the first night, and another refused to eat and would not be force fed. Of the remaining three, only two are eating well. The other was born with a more swollen abdomen than the others, with a prominant large vein visible on the belly. at first I thought it could simply be that it had absorbed more yolk than the others or that it was born without being fully developed. But 5 weeks later, the mass is still there, and there is a large black mark on the left side near the fron of the mass, and the belly has darkened.
Is there hope for this baby? and how can I improve my tactics this next year? I already give them an annual cool down each winter. The female is feeding on hoppers, and when pregnant I fed her once to twice a week, if she would take anything.
I have maintained many species but have only so far bred leopard geckos and these sand boas, and any information would be apreciated.

I wish I could help more, but see this thread.

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1874352,1874352

Also be sure to ask this in the sand boa and/or general boa forum. Be certain that your husbandry perameters are consistent, and that your adults are well kept and healthy. That's all I think you can really do. If this specific pair keeps having this problem, perhaps try a different pairing to find out if one of these parents has specific reproductive problems.

Good luck, I wish I had more advice for you.

Ian