Is one baby normal?!

[ThatFrankChick]

Hi all, sorry for the long read.
I'm somewhat new to owning BTS. I adopted a 15 year old pair of Northerns last fall. They did fine in brumation, fairly sedentary for a good 10ish weeks, and emerged in February this year. I know their previous owner bred them each year (had them living together); I was not planning to, and they have been separated since I got them.

About a month ago I realized the female was pretty wide, despite getting the same amount of food as the male, and read through signs of pregnancy (which matches up to a lot of her behaviors- heavy breaths, more basking, unusual aggression). I assumed she'd pass slugs, or maybe BTS can retain sperm? So I started giving her a bit more food- around 2-3 tbsp/week, split in 2 feedings. For the last two weeks she hasn't eaten anything, and has been very reclusive.

I went to check on them today, and saw two slugs and one baby in the female's enclosure. I took her out, removed the baby and slugs, and searched but didn't find more of either. I put her back, moved baby to a separate enclosure, and have checked in on her a few times but not seen anymore babies or slugs. My question is whether that few is normal for what I assume is retained sperm? Or is it possible that she had more and ate them? Should I expect her to birth more in the next few hours/days?

TL;DR: Is one live baby and 2 slugs normal, or something to worry about?

Thanks!

[Fatal_S]

Hello! Good question. One baby can just happen sometimes. Do you know what subspecies your BTS is? And does the female appear to be acting normal at the moment, or still active, pushing, etc?

[ThatFrankChick]

Thanks for answering! Yes, thy are both Northerns - the male I was told is a Turner White if that matters. I don't think it looks like she's pushing/straining at all, but she is currently very aggressive - tried to strike me through the glass, which is definitely not her normal

[Fatal_S]

Keep an eye on her, consider offering some food and see if that calms her down. The concern with any birth is that all the babies are out and nothing is stuck, but especially so with smaller-than-average litters. It could be she had more slugs and ate those, which is normal too. If the mom seems to be in distress at any point be ready for a vet run. Otherwise hopefully it was just a small litter and mom and baby are healthy and do well moving forward.