What Kind Of Snakes Lay Eggs?

About 70 per cent of snakes in the world lay eggs. The texture of the egg is soft like leather. Baby snakes break out of the egg with a special egg-tooth which they lose after they are born. Egg-laying snakes are known as oviparous. Egg-laying snakes do not care for nests; they simply lay the eggs in hollows or in the ground. Pythons however wrap their bodies around their eggs in an attempt to keep them warm. Only some snakes like garter snakes, rattlesnakes, adders and sea-snakes do not lay eggs. The eggs develop inside the body of the mother and are hatched inside her. Snakes which give birth to live snake babies in this form are called ovoviviparous.

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To most of us, a snake is a snake. We know there are differences among them, but we do not realize how great these differences are. The many different species of snakes reproduce in many different ways.There are many species of snakes, including rattlesnakes, copperheads, water snakes, and garter snakes, that do not lay eggs, but give birth to living young. And many produce quite a few young at one time. Some snakes have been known to have more than 75 young at one time!

Then there is a big group of snakes that lay eggs. These eggs are usually deposited in hidden places such as under a rock or log, or in hollow stumps. The eggs are not the same shape as chicken eggs, but are a little longer and usually smaller. The eggs of the bull snake, however, and those of certain large snakes, are about the size of a chicken egg.
The shell of a snake's egg is tough and has a leathery quality. The number of eggs they lay depends on the species. The snake that lays the most eggs is probably the python. One Indian python was known to have laid 107 eggs at one time.

The eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun or by decaying vegetable matter which gives off a natural heat. In some cases, the snake guards the eggs by coiling about them.
Since some snakes can lay 100 eggs at a time, who takes care of the young when the eggs hatch? No one has to. All young snakes are able to care for themselves from the moment of hatching or birth!

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