Lorna Gail Mills, age 11, of Kingston, Utah,'for her question:
How do snakes reproduce?
A little snakelet may hatch from an egg or he may be born alive, all wrapped in a neat bag made of something which looks like cellophane. There are almost three thousand different kinds of snakes. Some of them lay eggs and some give birth to live babies. Throughout most of the world, the greater number lay eggs. In North America there are two live bearing varieties for every three egg laying varieties.
Live babies seem to be the fashion among our poisonous snakes. All 16 varieties of rattlesnake are born alive. The water moccasin, alias the cotton mouth, also is born alive and so is the deadly copperhead. One poisonous snake, the beautiful coral snake, is hatched from an egg. Throughout the world, all the boa snakes give birth to live babies. Their close relatives, the pythons, lay eggs. All our water snakes and pretty garter snakes give birth to live babies.
Snakes are interesting and often beautiful animals, though no one has ever known one to be smart. In fact, they are rated as very stupid animals. And, in the animal world, it seems that there is a relationship between intelligence and affection. It is the more intelligent animals which show the most affection and care for their young. We are not surprised then to learn that snakes make very poor parents, whether they lay eggs or give birth to live children.
Plans for the snaky family begin right after the long winter sleep. A parent snake wakes up from hibernation looking for food and a mate. The egg laying mother snakes seek out some sheltered den where the temperature is quite warm. The nest may be in a rotting log, in a bed of decaying leaves or buried in warm sand,
Some of these mothers lay their eggs in a hidden hollow, some find a deserted burrow and some manage to dig a hole by wriggling their snaky bodies,
Pythons and several other snakes stay coiled around their eggs until they hatch. Most snakes, however, leave the eggs to hatch for themselves. When hatching time comes, the unborn snake grows a hard prong on the end of his little nose, This is his egg tooth, a weapon he uses to cut himself out of his shell. From the moment he hatches, he is on his own and wriggles off to find his first meal.
The mother of live born snakes wriggles off to find herself a sheltered den when the time comes. The first baby begins to emerge from an opening near the and of Mama's tail. The job of wriggling out into the world may take ten minutes. The little snakelet is neatly coiled and rather tightly enclosed in a bag of transparent skin. He may wait ten minutes or almost an hour before he breaks out of his prison.
Meantime, several more brothers and sisters have come forth into the world. When the last of the brood is born, Mama goes on her way and the little ones set out to see the world for themselves.