How Do Snakes Mate?
Female snakes attract males with scents or pheromones, may store sperm for five years, and usually mate for up to one hour.
[FamTimes reporter Jennylyn Gianan] How do snakes, the quintessential legless reptiles, mate?
People often wonder exactly how snakes mate, but the process is actually quite simple.
Female snakes typically go into heat once or twice a year. During mating season, they release a particular scent or pheromones to alert males to their location.
Male snakes detect the scent released by the female and gather around her. Rather than competing to claim her, the males approach while gauging which of them can appeal to her most successfully.
Male snakes court the female by lightly touching her or crawling over her. The males take turns crawling over her to see which one courts her best, until one successfully wraps itself around her tail.
The cloaca at the tail expels feces, but it also releases reproductive fluids.
Most animals have only one reproductive organ that releases sperm, but snakes have two sperm-delivering reproductive organs.
A female can store sperm for five years and may also determine whether to become pregnant after mating.
Just as a male has two reproductive organs, a female has what are known as two sperm receptacles.
After mating with several males, the female decides which male's sperm will fertilize her eggs.
Mating usually ends within one hour, although in some species it can last all day.
Jennylyn Gianan fam1@pcss.co.kr
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