-- Carlton S. Burke

While we typically think of spring and early summer as the time of baby wild animals, there is one group of creatures whose young arrive in late summer and fall. Their young also arrive either by egg or by being born alive, depending on the particular species. The young of these animals receive no care from their parents and must fend for themselves immediately after birth or hatching. While many baby animals such as birds and mammals evoke a warm feeling in the minds of many, these babies normally don't - because they're SNAKES!

Most of our native snake species mate soon after emerging from hibernation in the spring or before hibernation in the fall. After a gestation period of about a month or two, the egg-layers such as rat snakes, racers, kingsnakes, and others, will seek out warm, humid, and moist locations such as rotting stumps and logs, behind stone walls and under large rocks, etc. where they will deposit anywhere from two to thirty or more eggs. Gardeners and others doing yard work will often find snake eggs in piles of mulch or other loose damp material that is left unattended for long periods of time. Snakes choose these locations because their eggs need warmth, humidity, and good ventilation.

The egg of a snake is usually somewhat oblong in shape and white in color. The eggshell is not brittle but is leathery and tough. Moisture and oxygen can pass through the shell and as the embryo develops, the egg swells slightly. Heat from the surrounding environment speeds the development of the young snake and hatching normally occurs in 2 to 3 months. Baby snakes possess a sharp egg tooth on the tip of the snout which they use to slit the covering to make their escape. Some babies will cut one or more slits and then wait several hours or sometimes a day or two before emerging. This egg tooth falls off within a couple of days after hatching.

Snakes that have live young give birth about the time when snake eggs are hatching and in many cases much later. Snakes in our area that give birth to live young include garter snakes, water snakes, copperheads and rattlesnakes. These young snakes at birth are encased in a thin membrane from which they must escape. Snakes that are carrying developing young are called gravid snakes. An interesting fact is that gravid female snakes seldom eat during their often several month ordeal, instead using the area of their stomachs to allow for the ever-expanding clutch of young. Upon laying eggs or giving birth, female snakes must eat a lot to regain the body weight they lost if they are going to survive another season. Because having young is such a rigorous ordeal, many female snakes only breed every other year or so.

Meanwhile the new baby snakes are on their own and receive no parental care. Many fall prey to predators. They must hide from their enemies, find their own food, and if they are lucky perhaps they will live long enough to mate and reproduce and complete the cycle.