once found 6 gravid female pyros, 16 eggs and a whole lot of hatched eggs in one spot. Next best was 4 females.

If you link this with the bonding thread, then you will start to understand how colonies come about.

I have a friend that did Mtdna on some crots in dens and found they had a common mother.

Then if you link this with the female driven system that snakes use, you get a fairly good picture of whats going on. Of course there is so much more to it.

Lastly, in our 18 year pit tag study, we found then they have the ability to change behavior when conditions change. Indicating more then one mode of survival. The dang things are complicated. What caused us to miss all this over so many years was the approach that snakes were mindless killing machines. And all instinct. We were so far off, there was too much middle ground, and its still that way. When I mention these resident animals, the ones that pair bond, tight home range, live for many decades etc. To be clear, this is only a part of the reproductice system. Maybe 30% but produce a high percentage of successful neonates. Say, 80%. So its a very important part.
Its also the part, all the population is seeking, but fail to find. This also requires some thinking.

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