04-Feb-2007

Reproduction

Most snakes lay eggs although some species hatch the eggs inside their bodies. Snakes do not make very good parents and they mostly abandon their eggs or young straight away. Some female pythons do look after their eggs until they hatch. Snakes can lay up to 100 eggs in one brood, but usually there are less than that.

Senses

Snakes flick out their tongue to smell the air. They are ectotherms meaning they have to control their body temperature by sunning themselves or lying in the shade. When snakes are disturbed to be captured they can try to act their way out. Some harmless snakes look more deadly than the venomous ones. Most snakes have very good senses, able to pick up an animals heartbeat and breathing by feeling the ground and the air.

Skin

Snakes have smooth dry skin which they shed from once every two days to once a year. They also give out fluid – often stinking – when excited or annoyed.

This is a picture of a snake that has just cast its skin – you can see the old skin hanging down from the tree. One of my sister’s friends has a corn snake as a pet and she gave me one of the old skins so I could put it in my project.