Birthin babies!

This female is still laying her litter. You can see a contraction in her body along the right side of the PIC. Females often nose through the pile of babies while they are laying. I have never seen one eat a baby and suspect that they are looking for slugs which they eat. Pushing through the pile of babies may acually help to get the babies out of the membranes where they sometimes "drown". While in the membrane they are more vulnerable to predation so this behaviour may be a natural adaptation to protect the babies from predators rather than just to get them out and breathing. Multifactorial????