Snake Reproduction Questions

[EarthlyMaiden]

Alternatively, 'a virgin shall conceive'.

We weren't, and still aren't, planning on breeding ours. Steve's a bachelor and when we took Fuzzy in, she(I suppose!) came with her own vivarium. It was all fine we decided.

Then, we started seeing stuff in Fuzzy consistent with what people describe in snake ovulation. The 'glow', the shed, the 'tail suck' (big and bad), and my first thought is 'only mammals have estrous cycles, Steve has been nowhere near her, her previous owners totally bred her without telling us, goddammit', and that sort.

...But I don't know. See, all the resources on this deal solely with mating so of course all those females involved are gravid.

...My question is, if this snake is ovulating, does it mean she's gravid? Obviously they don't produce clutches of unfertilized eggs like chickens and obviously they don't have an estrous cycle, so...just how DOES this work?

[distaff]

Since no one else more experienced has responded...
I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that they can (but it is rare) retain viable sperm from one breeding season to another.
I guess, yeah, she might be gravid.

[Eric Alan]

Hey there!

Both retained sperm and virgin births are possible. It's also possible that you're potentially misinterpreting other perfectly normal behaviors for signs of impending ovulation. More than a few times have owners mistaken a case of "sausage butt" for an ovulation only to have a nice big mess to clean up a few days later. Do you happen to have a picture of the ovy you're referring to?

In any case, it's always good to learn!

Parthenogenesis (producing offspring asexually in a species that normally reproduces sexually) in pythons is rare, but it does happen. If you'd like to read up a bit on it, here's an article written on the topic: https://www.researchgate.net/profile...ication_detail. Enjoy!

Best regards,
Eric