Some animals, such as the white-tailed deer, drop their young in the spring. White-tails mate in the fall, carry the babies over-winter, and drop fawns in the early spring. Then they have all spring, summer, and fall before the next winter to grow and prepare for the next great survival test in their existence.



Snakes in N.A. usually mate in spring, after the long or short winter. They then have a gestation period and usually an incubation period. Many of our snakes are born or hatch bt. July and Sept, as FR said. In MI, almost all are born or hatch in the month of August.



Some snakes immediately start breeding again in the fall, arguably most of them. Some snakes even produce clutches, or a second clutch in the fall before winter. I think that happens mostly in the tropics, however. Most of the species in the U.S. probably wait until the following spring to mate and only produce one clutch a year. A few species can carry viable sperm and time the fertilization of their clutches to the best time of the year to do that, which is normally in the spring when they start foraging. This is my opinion anyway.



I believe we see the most babies bt. July and Sept, or around August because that's how most of their reproductive systems work. Snakes need a certain amt. of time to reproduce in a year, and if they cycle in winter, fertilize in spring, they incubate in summer, and they have a couple months hopefully to grow a little before tackling their first winter. Some snakes have very little, or no time, before cold weather makes them become dormant for the winter or the babies stop feeding and start resting/waiting out the cold weather. That is in the north anyway.



As you all have pointed out, animals in general have adapted this way, and there tends to be lots of food for baby snakes. We might want to ask ourselves, however, why snakes reproductive systems have evolved this way, and is it just because of food availability, or is it to take advantage of the climatic conditions? Why wouldn't some snakes be born in winter (like black bears) or as soon as foraging becomes possible?



Interesting stuff...I guess I'm stuck on this for awhile..TC.

[ Show Entire Thread ]