Do All Snakes Lay Eggs? SSSenssational Facts That will 'Rattle' You!

There are about 3,000 different types of snakes on the globe, and every continent (except Antarctica) has at least one.

While snakes have a poor reputation for being a nuisance, they may also be useful and even entertaining pets. Not in every country though!

Let's learn some sssensational facts about these beautiful creatures! The majority of snakes lay eggs. They're oviparous, which means they lay eggs.

When handled, snakes eggs have a leathery texture and may be either flexible or stiff, depending on the species. Although snakes with rigid shells tend to be more dangerous, most snakes lay soft shell eggs instead. To break through an eggshell, hatchlings utilize their egg teeth.

If you find articles about this species interesting, then why not take a look at how do snakes see and why do snakes shed.

Which snakes do not lay eggs?

A snake is either viviparous or ovoviviparous, depending on whether or not it lays eggs.

Unlike other snake species, viviparous snakes do not lay eggs. The infants grow in the mother's womb and are delivered alive, much like humans. These snakes lay eggs with embryos inside of them. Neonatal snakes, on the other hand, burst through their shell before the mother gives birth.

Do snakes give birth through their mouth?

It is a common misconception that snakes give birth through their mouth. Yes, snakes do carry their babies in their mouths, but that is in case they need to protect them.

For example, pythons give explicit attention to their younger ones in their early life, which includes carrying them in their mouths while going from one place to another. It is a way of protecting them.

There are different ways in which snakes give birth. Some snakes give birth by laying eggs, they are called oviparous, while the ones that give birth to live offspring are called viviparous. Then there are those that lie between the two who are called ovoviviparous. In short, the process is complicated and has variations.

Snakes give birth through their cloaca, which is also used to get rid of feces, fart, and mate. They can remove eggs through the mouth while vomiting.

They may also steal the eggs of other animal species by swallowing them. Just in case someone catches them, they throw up in order to remove the eggs and attempt to escape freely.

How many species of snakes give birth to live offspring?

Some species of snake that give birth to live offspring are as follows.

Boas. Aside from the mysterious Calabar boa (Calabaria reinhardtii), all other boas and their relatives give birth to live infants. Boa constrictors, rainbow boas, tree boas, sand boas, and anacondas are examples of snakes that fall within this category. They are mostly found in central and South America, with a few in Africa and Asia.

Some Elapids. Cobras, coral snakes, kraits, and their cousins are all included in the elapid family, and most reproduce by depositing eggs. There are a few notable exceptions to this rule. All sea snakes, including death adders (Acanthophis), give birth to live offspring. Except for Antarctica, these species may be found all over the globe.

Vipers. There are a few notable exceptions to the rule but almost all vipers, including pit vipers, give birth to live offspring.

Snakes, like vipers and pit vipers, may be found across the world, including in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Several species survive in extremely cold temperatures, yet they are all poisonous. These are snakes that give birth to live offspring!

Why did livebearing snakes evolve?

Both viviparous (without eggs) and ovoviviparous (with an egg kept within the female body) methods of giving birth to live young snakes have been addressed before, and both result in fully functioning baby snakes.

The vast majority of viper species, all rattlesnake types, boa constrictors, and green anacondas, as well as other members of the Boidae family, give birth to live offspring. They belong to the Hydrophiinae subfamily of the Elapidae family, which contains poisonous cobras and adders as well as mambas and other sea snake species.

Almost all sea snakes give birth to live young, with the exception of Laticauda (shown above), which implies that infants are born alive in the water.

When it comes to snakes, there is no parental protection, thus newborn live snakes are entirely on their own. The hatchlings are left to fend for themselves from the moment they are born. Hence, snake pups like rattlesnakes are born completely armed with fangs and venom, ready to deliver a lethal bite to their victims.

Ovoviviparous species of snakes are those that are capable of giving birth to live young. A rattlesnake belongs to this kind, meaning a female carries eggs for three months before the eggs hatch within the body and the young are born alive.

There are still significant differences between ovoviviparous and viviparous live births when it comes to animal reproduction (such as most species of mammals). Ovoviviparous animals have eggs that grow and hatch within the mother body and stay there for a while so that development may proceed.

Ovoviviparous snakes, in contrast to many viviparous species, do not have umbilical cords or placentas to feed, oxygenate, or exchange waste. Garter snakes, for example, are commonly known under this umbrella.

Ovoviviparous babies like the garter snakes eat on the yolks of their egg sac when they are initially born within their mother.

Ovoviviparous children have more time to grow in their mothers because of their delayed birth after hatching. As a result, they are farther along in their development than oviparous snakes that hatch from externally deposited eggs or viviparous species (they are bigger in size, better equipped to feed and defend themselves) after birth.

Rinkhals, sea snakes, water snakes, garter snakes, boa constrictors, anacondas, white-lipped snakes, rattlesnakes, and Amazon tree boas are some types of snakes that give live birth.

Oviparous vs. Viviparous vs. Ovoviviparous, what's the difference?

Now let's learn in detail what the three types of snakes are.

Viviparous. The snakes with the ability to give birth to live young reptiles are said to be viviparous snakes. The Latin meaning for viviparous, which means 'life-bearing' or 'to bring out alive,' fits them given how this breed reproduces.

Given that these snakes don't lay snakes eggs, embryonic development occurs inside the mother's body. The baby snakes are born from the body after the fetus is completely grown. 'Matrotrophy,' in which the embryo receives extra nourishment from the mother directly, is linked to this idea.

Oviparous. The main mechanism of fertilization occurs inside oviparous mammals. Embryos are created while a mother or father is breastfeeding.

During embryonic development, the snake eggs are not kept in the mother's body. The egg hatches when the fetus grows to full size. Because they can lay a huge number of snake eggs at once, this is a more evolved form of reproduction.

The eggshells are in charge of safeguarding the embryo from outside predators while it is within. Most of an Embryo's nourishment is derived from the yolk material within the eggshell, which is deposited exclusively by the mother's reproductive system in oviparous animals. In contrast to matrotrophic, this condition is referred to as 'lecithotrophic.'

Ovoviviparous. Ovoviviparous animals, on the other hand, fertilize their snake eggs from the inside out via the union of their sex organs.

In spite of this, snake eggs that hatch inside the mother's body prefer to stay in the oviducts until they are completely grown and developed enough to live outside the mother's body.

Since these animals have no umbilical cord or placental appendage attached to the mother for nutritional requirements or gas exchange, the yolk content of the egg sacs is the main source of food or oxygen for the developing offspring.

Or, you may hear it described as yolk sac viviparity, meaning the kid develops without any obvious care from their mother.

Do snakes hatch from eggs?

Not all snakes lay eggs, despite their well-deserved reputation. Even some species of birds do not deposit eggs on the outside of their bodies; instead, they create young via hatching eggs that are carried within the mother's body.

Ovoviviparous animals are those that are capable of this kind of live birth. Only 70% of the world's snakes lay eggs, with the other 30% giving birth to their young.

Warmer temperatures help incubate the eggs of oviparous (egg-laying) snakes. Snakes that give birth to offspring are known as viviparous snakes and prefer colder climates when the earth is too cold for the eggs to hatch.

Eggs are the source of many a snake's offspring. The species determines how long it takes for a reptile to emerge from its egg.

It takes anything from one to three months for the majority of species. When learning that reptiles lay eggs, many people wonder how they come to be. They communicate with each other by beating their chests.

In order to keep their metabolisms and hatching periods in line, they communicate with one another via this technique. Thus, the eggs in a clutch all hatch at around the same time, according to this theory (within two days of each other).

In order to break through the shell and hatch, snakes have egg teeth. This tooth is used by this reptile to break the embryonic membranes within the egg and the leathery shell that surrounds the embryo inside the egg.

What should you do if you see snake eggs?

If you happen to find snake eggs, then leave them be; especially in the wild.

If you need them removed or relocated, contact a snake expert or a local wildlife center for help. If you try to move the eggs around, it might be a risk because you never know if the adult snake is around.

Did You Know...

Around 70% of snake species do egg-laying. Typically, they lay around 3-100 eggs in order to increase the survival of at least some of their offspring. They can lay around 100 or more in a year in one large clutch. A clutch is a group of snake eggs laid at the same time.

The average number of eggs per clutch comes between 6-30. The smaller clutches hold around 25 or fewer eggs. The number of eggs varies heavily depending on the species of the reptile (which are over 200 by the way) and its size.

It is because the larger the snake, the more she can hold. Reticulated pythons lay up to 80 eggs at a time. At the same time, only two eggs are laid per clutch by a Sonoran coral snake.

The most common reptiles that lay eggs are rat snakes, king snakes, and coral snakes. A breed called king snakes, you hear that? Yet, there is no way of telling how many eggs will survive.

It is important because once eggs are laid, they have to be kept warm. If this is not done, then they will die. Keeping them warm until they hatch is necessary.

Depending on the climate, especially, the warm atmosphere, these reptiles lay around one clutch of eggs each year. They do it almost always around early summer.

They hide in closed spaces like burrows to keep their body temperature at a safe level, due to brumation. They come out of brumation when the temperature rises and then start searching for a mate. Snakes experience summers differently depending on where they are.

For example, an Australian snakes' summer is in December, January, and February. We hope you learned a lot about these fascinating creatures from this article!

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 'Do all snakes lay eggs?' then why not take a look at 'Why do snakes eat themselves?', or 'Vine snake facts'.