Baby Adder **Warning Gross Pictures**

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saximus

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Hello all I thought I might share this as some of you would find it interesting. This year was my first attempt at breeding Adders and it’s safe to say I had “limited” success.

Just over a month ago, my gravid female laid/aborted a bunch of her young. I counted six semi formed babies in total plus a couple of slugs. That is the first two photos. You can easily see the little black dots that are the eyes.

At the time, I assumed it was just a total failure due to a combination of husbandry issues and her being too young/small. A week or so later, I noticed she was still a little pudgy and thought maybe hope wasn’t totally lost.

Yesterday afternoon I came home from work to see she had laid a couple more slugs and one almost fully formed stillborn.

I had to go out pretty quickly so had to leave her but when I got home later in the night, she’d laid a couple more slugs and one healthy bub.

I was so incredibly stoked and relieved after this little couple of month long roller-coaster ride. This morning I checked her and she was still huffing and puffing but no more babies.

So it looks like this little miracle baby is going to be my only one.



1 Aborted young 1.jpg 2 Aborted young 2.jpg 3 Stillborn & Mum.jpg 4 Stillborn.jpg 5 Live Baby & Mum.jpg 6 Live Baby.jpg
 
That is awesome that you got one, unfortunate about its siblings.
One question: Why are you free handling it? That is a risk not worth taking in my opinion.
 
Glad you got one, sorry about the others.
Adders will always be my dream elapid to keep :)
 
Ones better than none congratulations.

Looks proper chunky but I suppose it’s had all the food
How long are they gravid for? Boas are 105 days from pos
Was she still eating properly while gravid,as too much food can cause babies to pop out prematurely
I didn’t know adders gave birth to live young like my boas do
Congratulations again


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Congrats mate. Never say never when reptiles are involved.
They are amazing animals and throw the most amazing curve balls.
I'm currently in confusion over a BHP who laid 6 slugs last season but is now (6 months on) showing signs of impending egg laying, more in line with animals in the northern hemisphere.

Will we ever really understand the physiology of these amazing creatures?
 
That is awesome that you got one, unfortunate about its siblings.
One question: Why are you free handling it? That is a risk not worth taking in my opinion.

Thank you for your concern and for your opinion.
The free handling debate is a long and tired one so I'll just address it once on here. I've always wanted to hold an Adder but am not silly/brave enough to do it with an adult. This little guy was literally no more than 3 hours old and I would argue virtually incapable of doing me harm for a couple of reasons that should be obvious. It was also very clear that he/she wasn't interested in biting. Lastly, at that size, my hand was basically big enough to just seem like any other surface and most animals don't go around biting the ground beneath them.
Risk is all relative and I decided this one was worth taking.

Ones better than none congratulations.

Looks proper chunky but I suppose it’s had all the food
How long are they gravid for? Boas are 105 days from pos
Was she still eating properly while gravid,as too much food can cause babies to pop out prematurely
I didn’t know adders gave birth to live young like my boas do
Congratulations again


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

My books say gestation period is around 4-6 months. There were pretty obvious signs she was getting fat back in December, so that sort of fits.
That's interesting about feeding. I gave her something small once or twice but intuition says it was still mostly down to her size, being her first time, and possibly the heat in Western Sydney.
Thanks for the info :)
 
I am not trying to argue, more so just curious. What are the couple of obvious reasons that it would be incapable of biting. As far as I know straight out of the egg (or mum) all elapids are more than capable of inflicting a serious to deadly bite.
 
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Thank you for your concern and for your opinion.
The free handling debate is a long and tired one so I'll just address it once on here. I've always wanted to hold an Adder but am not silly/brave enough to do it with an adult. This little guy was literally no more than 3 hours old and I would argue virtually incapable of doing me harm for a couple of reasons that should be obvious. It was also very clear that he/she wasn't interested in biting. Lastly, at that size, my hand was basically big enough to just seem like any other surface and most animals don't go around biting the ground beneath them.
Risk is all relative and I decided this one was worth taking.



My books say gestation period is around 4-6 months. There were pretty obvious signs she was getting fat back in December, so that sort of fits.
That's interesting about feeding. I gave her something small once or twice but intuition says it was still mostly down to her size, being her first time, and possibly the heat in Western Sydney.
Thanks for the info :)
I am not trying to argue, more so just curious. What are the couple of obvious reasons that it would be incapable of biting. As far as I know straight out of the egg (or mum) all elapids are more than capable of inflicting a serious to deadly bite.
Id be more worried taking the baby out while Mum is there :p.
I’m guessing a sign was that it wasn’t striking while he was looking in, as well as he probably scooped it up and was super still making no crazy movements
 
Excellent Sax, its awesome to see this work out for you. I have been following your posts on bookface on this and I can see why you would be happy with this!

Well done again man
 
You should keep the almost cooked one in a jar in alcohol. Very cute baby. Congrats. Maybe next year she’ll fair better.
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Id be more worried taking the baby out while Mum is there :p.
I’m guessing a sign was that it wasn’t striking while he was looking in, as well as he probably scooped it up and was super still making no crazy movements
You should probably let him answer and not assume. Just sayin.
 
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