Snakes Lifecycle
Snakes start where every being starts; as a glint in their mother’s
eye. Then they can be born one of two ways depending completely on which
kind of snake they are. The first way is naturally when the mother snake
cares her babies to full term and gives birth to wriggling babies to
care for. King cobras and Rattle snakes are just two kinds known to give
birth this way. This is known as ovoviviparous birth meaning the baby
came out fully alive. The second way is oviparous meaning it’s born from
its mother in an egg of some kind and needs more time to grow. This kind
of snake will then burry her eggs in sawdust, rocks, or even soft earth.
The waiting game then starts lasting about sixty days and unlike bird
eggs the snake relies on the substrate and sun to warm her eggs. The
snake egg is also unlike birds in that it’s soft and leathery which
makes it easy for the little snakes to get out when they are ready. When
it’s time the little snake uses the egg tooth it’s born with to cut its
way out of the egg and onto freedom. After birth the egg tooth is no
longer needed so it’s lost.
Now the next question is just how many can one snake birth no matter
how they do it? The answer is dozens if not more. One snake can lay or
birth as many as 75 depending on their type of snake.
Once born a snake need to eat and if born in a shell that’s typically
its first meal. After the egg they will move on to tiny insects and move
on to any small animal and even fish. From there and as they grow, learn
to move faster, and become more aggressive. For eating and learning to
eat decides which babies live and which die. But sadly like any birth
sometimes babies die with no explanation or reasoning behind it.
Snake grow normally from birth and can last from months to years
before they are full grown depending on their kind.
Shedding is a natural happening with snakes and isn’t something that
happens every couple months or something that can be timed but it
happens because of whether, humidity, and even the health of the snake.
When shedding its skin a snake will literally crawl out of its skin
typically starting at the head and slithering out.
Now there are some people out there that like to collect skins or
even little kids who spot a skin when on a walk and want nothing more
then to pick it up but truthfully they have been known to carry
Salmonella. Even collectors which have skins hanging on their walls have
found this dangerous disease on the skins. So following this general
rule being don’t touch it unless you have to and then use gloves.
The life of a snake can last anywhere between birth and twenty plus
years depending on what life throws at it, if it’s healthy, and how much
risk it puts itself in. |
