Posted by:
WW
at Wed Jun 25 03:30:38 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WW ]
Chance,
The long delay between mating and laying is probably due to sperm storage by the female, not to a very long development time of the eggs. This is a common pattern in many snakes: females store sperm for weeks or months after mating before using it to fertilise the eggs. For instance, many rattlesnakes mate in autumn, and the females store the sperm until spring/early summer, when they fertilise their eggs, and embryonic development begins.
Cheers,
Wolfgang ----- WW
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