Gravid Shingleback popped

[spandangle]

My gravid shingleback finally popped on Friday. For the last few weeks she was really struggling. About a month ago I came to the conclusion that she was either gravid or she had a serious obesity problem. I was really hoping that she was just gravid! It was a nice surprise to come home from work and find one extra shingleback in the enclosure.

She gave birth to one large bub. Bub weighs 116g. Gestation period was approximately 140 days. I was expecting that she would have dropped a few more given the size she was the day before! I checked on them all yesterday and today incase of anymore, but looks like it is just this one large bub.

In November I posted the thread below querying the sex of my shinglebacks. I can confirm that A is definately male (it is the father) and B is female (it is the mother).
http://www.bluetongueskinks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26381

Mum and bub:


Bub:




Mum and bub:

[alichamp]

Great news! Looks fab!!

I would LOVE a shingleback from my area and was torn deciding between a shingleback and alpine blotched. We recently got our blotched and am happy, but I still feel a call from the shinglebacks! Perhaps if things go well this year with our new friend I can think about a shingleback next year: if I have the $$$$ to set up a second enclosure and can actually obtain a nice CB one. Might be a wait on....

Just the one baby - very special

[NickBrahz]

Holy cow that baby is massive compared to the mother i feel sorry for the poor girl no wonder why she would have looked so big! my Eastern isn't even that weight and he is 3 months old.

Edit: Oh and he is a cute thing, sorry was shocked and how big it was.

[alichamp]

Out of interest, are babies born 'ready to go' and separated from mothers right away? Is it the same for all BTS species?

[spandangle]

Holy cow that baby is massive compared to the mother i feel sorry for the poor girl no wonder why she would have looked so big! my Eastern isn't even that weight and he is 3 months old.

I got another Centralian that was only 3 months old last year. Even at 3 months of age, it was half the size of this one in length. Centralians are midgets in comparison.

Out of interest, are babies born 'ready to go' and separated from mothers right away? Is it the same for all BTS species?

As far as I am aware, all BTS species are independent from day one. I seperated this bub from the other three immediately and it gulped down 2 teaspoons of dog food the next morning when I fed it.

One thing that does help them survive on their own, is their aggression towards everything that moves. Holy cow, I have forgotten how fiesty these youngens are. This thing is like a fighting pit bull terrier on steriods! I have picked up many things in my life with bare hands from wild carpet pythons, monitors, wild kangaroos, possoms, feral foxes and pigs, but nothing has prepared me for a new born shingleback.

[NickBrahz]

Going to keep the fellow? if so i think a name along the lines of Beast, Godzilla, Gigantor etc may be appropriate :p
Yeah it does not look like it will be fun to get bitten by the "little" fellow

[spandangle]

Not that bad I guess. I still have plenty of skin left on my hands so far.

Not sure whether to keep this one or not. My son has already named it "Chubba Chubb". Good name for a shingleback as they all appear to be on the chubby side I guess, but since you mentioned it, I am liking the name of "Godzilla".

My wife and son love it and think it is cute, but they are both terrified of it.

[NickBrahz]

Haha yeah he looks cute but i imagine a cranky baby along with that size will be terrifying to try to handle, im just used to seeing pictures of Blotchie and Eastern babies i didn't know Shinglebacks could be born so big, is it rare that he was born so big?

[alichamp]

Whoa, I didn't know they were so nasty! They must get nicer though because they can be pretty relaxed on handling (the nicely bred ones like yours at least). Right?
Do they get nicer by breeders taming them or growing a bit older???

[starscream3232]

Well that's one way to know you have a pair. Great job. It's amazing how big the babies are compared to the adults. Again great work!!

[Richard.C]

nice one,keep an eye on your female,sometimes they can have more days later,and she still looks pretty solid

[StaceyLeigh]

Wow, just stunning! Congrats on the little one

[mark_w]

Wow the size of that baby really is phenomenal! Congratulations!
Mark.

[Richard.C]

116 gms isnt an overly large baby for a shingle,some single litter babies come out in the 260 g range,compared to other tiliqua these guys hands down have the heftiest babies by a huge margin

[MattFab]

Wow Shingleback babies are so big! I am currently after a pair myself such amazing animals, congrats!

[spandangle]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Richard, you were right. The mother did drop another one today, but sadly, it was a still born. I don't know what happened. I found it dead this afternoon in one of the hides. It had no marks on it and it was still partially covered in the embryo sack. It was another very large bub at around the same size as the one born last Friday.

On a positive though, the bub born last Friday has been doing really well. It has been eating everyday and putting on weight. The mother has been doing fine also, but after she has dropped this second one today, she has really slimmed down. I am pretty sure she was just carrying the two.

[Richard.C]

yeah the mums when done often look quite deflated,sirry to hear about number two,i thought she still looked solid,especially for a rugosa rugosa

not sure the delay in dropping was the cause,as others get healthy bubs born days after the first,but it could also be why it came days later to


good to hear first ones doing well,mum should start hooking into tucker as well to replace her lost condition

[spandangle]

I thought she may have been carrying another after the first dropped, but was not too sure. She has always been a "chubby" shingleback so that is why I second guessed. When she dropped the first one, she had a new lease of life. She was moving as quickly as a normal shingle and the heavy breathing had stopped. I guess dropping that first 116g bub was enough to make her feel a lot better.

She also started to really get stuck into the tucker last weekend after she dropped the first one. Before that, I noticed she was hardly eating for the past 2 weeks while the other two adults were still eating like normal. She ate half a plate of meat and veg just last Saturday. A massive amount for a 600g lizard!

[Richard.C]

one of my blotchie girls is a stickler for that,couple od seasons back she dropped a baby and 2 possable still borns,and for two weeks started hooking into her tucker,one arvo i was watching her devour food,she stopped,cruised a foot away from bowl and popped out a still born,turned back around and straight back into devouring food,lol

the pressure of a gut full of babies can put so.e strain on them internally fitting it all in,i guess dropping half of that alone would feel much better for them
some girls eat hard right though carrying,but alot seem to stop or just have tiny nibbles here and there,id say due to if they have any space inside for food to get in

[Richard.C]

once enough or all that pressure is released females are often ravenous