Not scientific proof, but interesting things to think about!



----------



"To date, the African rock python (Python sebae) is the only snake in the world that actually “cares” for its young. Typically depositing a clutch of 20 to 90 eggs, female rock pythons have long been known to encircle and vigorously defend their egg clutches until they hatch. This is a tactic many boid snake species perform (Mehrtens 64).



Before the early 21st century, it was thought rock python’s parental care ended there. But new discoveries suggest females of the species keep their young near them for more than four months after hatching. These young snakes enjoy their mother’s protection from potential predators. Few birds of prey or monitor lizards will move upon a 20-inch-long hatchling rock python lying close within the coils of its 17-foot-long mother. Field research herpetologists speculate the warmth absorbed by the mother python during the day helps to sustain the young snakes’ high body temperatures as she coils about them at night. Mother snakes might be a rare occurrence, but they exist."



http://www.reptilechannel.com/kid-corner/beyond-beginners/bad-snake-myths.aspx



----------



"Parental care is best documented in squamates, where females have been reported to remain with their eggs after oviposition in over a hundred species (Shine 1988a,c). In most species, care is restricted to the defense of nest sites. However, in a few, including the pythons, females coil around their eggs, defending them against predators and warming them by shivering thermogenesis and, in some, they aid and defend newly hatched young (Shine 1988a,c). Though the belief that female snakes swallow their young to protect them from predators has been widespread from Egyptian times, there is no firm evidence that this occurs (Shine 1988a,c). Biparental care occurs in some crocodiles and possibly in a few snakes, too (Oliver 1956, Shine 1988a,c) while uniparental male care has not been documented.



T. H. Clutton-Brock, The evolution of parental care. Monographs in Behavior and Ecology. 1991, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.
-----
----



0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)

2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (Arco, Olho)

1.3.1 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari, TBA)

1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (Coatl)

0.0.1 Mexican black kingsnake (Mora)

2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, Uce, TBA)

1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

[ Show Entire Thread ]