So, you are looking to find out how snakes have sex and reproduce.

How can a snake with not arms or legs mate with another snake? We are going to answer all in this short article for you and break it down, so it all makes sense!

First snakes reproduce most commonly once per year, but some species are able to do this twice.

This is rare due to how taxing it is on the female’s body as she goes through the birthing process and everything leading up to giving birth.

Snakes have a breeding season when females are most likely to give off a scent that males from up to 2 miles away can track the female to mate with her.

If the species of snake is an egg baring snake, she will have produced tiny eggs and they will have already begun to grow before the male mates.

There is a window called ovulation where the female must mate with often more than one male to achieve a successful birth and healthy offspring.

When the male meets the female snake

First let’s just say snakes in order to reproduce need to have sex. Another little fact is male snake have not one but two penis’s, lucky we know.

These are called hemipenes and are inverted when not in use.  On a snake this is inside the cloaca, this is the bottom of the snake.

Now when a male sees the female snake, he will begin to court her by following her exact movement behind until he reaches the head and the female stops moving, usually in a hidden area.

The male snake wraps his tail around the females and usually taking from 30 minutes – 2 hours inserts his hemipenes into the female.

Whilst the male is mating with the female this period is called “locking up” the two snakes will be mating for the next 1 – 3 days dependant on the species in question.

After this the female will repeat this with other males, she comes across to increase the chance of a good reproduction season.

When is the mating season?

This is usually in the springtime after the snake has been through hibernation periods. 

This is when the snake will sleep for an extended period of time and when they awake it’s time to breed.

The reason behind this is the hibernation time is when the weather is at it coldest, eggs need heat to thrive and hatch as it is baby snake in there.

So, if they begin mating straight after the cold season, their eggs will stand the best chances of being healthy and living.

This is extremely smart but often this is the time when the eggs are most vulnerable to predators eating their eggs also.

Are snakes monogamous?

No, snakes rarely mate with the same female once they have once as each year’s snakes move from different areas.

This isn’t to say it is impossible to mate with the same female, but a male will not actively seek the same female as the year before.

It most boils down to the smell of the females scent and which has the most inviting to entice the male to breed with the female.

Snakes can be Asexual?

Only a handful of snakes have ever been considered to be asexual, the most recent being the flower-pot snake.

This allows these amazing snakes not to need a sexual partner, but the snake actually created and gives birth on its own, effectively making a clone of itself without the need of an opposite sex snake.

Though this is yet to be 100% proven as scientists say that a female can hold onto previous male sperm for up to 5 years which could also explain the reasoning behind not need a male in a certain season.

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