Believe it or not a very common misconception with snakes is that they all lay eggs when in actuality
Only about 70% of them lay eggs
And the remaining 30% of snake species either give live birth or appear to give live birth
So that's why today I'm going to be sharing with you the three different methods of reproduction when it comes to snakes
Let's start with egg-laying species since we're all pretty familiar with those snakes that lay eggs are considered oviparous
Ovum meaning egg in Latin so oviparous means egg-laying method of reproduction
These snakes will develop eggs inside of their bodies and then those eggs
will of course be layed in an entire clutch at once not just one at a time and then those eggs will need to be
Incubated at the proper temperature and humidity levels for varying amounts of time depending on the species and when the babies are fully developed
They emerge from the eggs and then those are your hatchling or neonate snakes some examples of oviparous snakes include
Pythons which are you know the snakes that love desert the most?
As well as nearly all species of colubrids including things like bull snakes
Hognose snakes saltwater cobras and many more the second method of reproduction would be snakes that are considered
Viviparous or live bearing snakes since the word ovi isn't in this term at all
That indicates that there are no eggs in any stage of development
so instead viviparous snakes will nourish their young inside of their own bodies via a
Placenta and when the babies are fully developed then the snake gives birth to them
Those babies would be considered neonates not necessarily hatchlings because the they haven't technically hatched
Basically, all hatchlings are neonates, but not all neonates are hatchlings
If that makes sense
Some examples of viviparous or live bearing snakes include boa
Constrictors as well as our garter snakes and water snakes. The last type of reproduction is kind of a combination between
egg-laying snakes and live bearing snakes and it's also the most difficult one to pronounce and spell
These would be snakes that are considered, ovoviviparous
And these snakes which by the way bullsnakes are oviparous. They are egg-layers. They're not ovoviviparous
I just have him out here because I don't have an example of an ovoviviparous snake, which we'll get to later
There's very few of them
Anyway, ovoviviparous snakes since it has ovo in it that tells you that there are eggs involved at one point
Basically snakes that fall into this category will develop eggs inside of their bodies
But they don't lay them instead
They will
incubate those eggs within their bodies which allows the snake to be able to move itself and therefore its entire clutch of eggs to
An environment that provides the proper temperature for those eggs to incubate that and once those babies are fully developed
They will hatch from their eggs within the mother and then the mother soon afterwards will give birth to those babies
So it appears as though the snake gives live birth, but there are eggs involved
The eggs are just retained inside of the mother. And from what I understand. They're reabsorbed. There are not many species of ovoviviparous
snakes, however
Really the main example would be rattlesnakes and I don't have rattlesnakes
,so that's why I'm just carrying my bull snake which does rattle his tail like a rattlesnake
But these again are oviparous not ovoviviparous if you want to see an example of an ovoviviparous snake
We actually saw one in the wild
We found a timber rattlesnake that you can watch in this video right here
And if you want to check out this snake, it was a beautiful timber rattlesnake
I'll link to this at the end of this video in the credits now that we've covered the main three reproductive strategies with snakes
Which category does your snake fall under we're curious let us know in the comments below and if you don't have a snake these terms
Also apply to all other animals as well. So let us know which of those three categories oviparous viviparous and ovoviviparous
Your animal at home falls under thanks for letting something new with me today, and we'll see you next time
Pythons which are you know the snakes that love desert the most
You know you like it
(Took me a minute there)
Okay, and if you want to check out the snake, it was a beautiful timber, which is
Basically snakes that fall under this category
Really?
Good morning (He wanted to be on camera)
I guess