Is one baby normal?!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2022 5:09 pm
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!
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!