Mum's first clutch of Red Bellied Black Snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus)

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GBWhite

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Went to check the snake room this morning and found that my youngest female RBB finally decided to drop these little guys. There were nine in total (no duds). Three decided they didn't want their pic taken.


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nice!! do RBBs birth live babies?

Yes my friend they do. Great snakes to own. I've kept them for many years but don't usually breed them unless I have people ask me to. This is the first clutch I've produced for a long time, she is the youngest of my lot. Over the years I've had other females drop as many as 22

There'll probably be a few spares with this lot if anyones interested but they won't be available for a couple of months yet. Probably best to PM me.

Quite a number of our elapids are live bearers. Adders, Tiger, Copperheads, The broad-head group, Swamp Snakes, Small Eye Snakes just to name a few. I had 3 tigers drop over a hundred between them some time back and ended up giving most of them away to friends.

Cheers.
 
That is fascinating. I just did a quick Google to try and find out why some snakes are live bearing and others lay eggs but there doesn't seem to be much on the why and lots on the how. Do you have any theories [MENTION=39076]GBWhite[/MENTION]?
 
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Yes my friend they do. Great snakes to own. I've kept them for many years but don't usually breed them unless I have people ask me to. This is the first clutch I've produced for a long time, she is the youngest of my lot. Over the years I've had other females drop as many as 22

There'll probably be a few spares with this lot if anyones interested but they won't be available for a couple of months yet. Probably best to PM me.

Quite a number of our elapids are live bearers. Adders, Tiger, Copperheads, The broad-head group, Swamp Snakes, Small Eye Snakes just to name a few. I had 3 tigers drop over a hundred between them some time back and ended up giving most of them away to friends.

Cheers.

Wow interesting!! Didnt know snakes had live babies.. thanks for the enlightenment! :D hahah
 
That is fascinating. I just did a quick Google to try and find out why some snakes are live bearing and others lay eggs but there doesn't seem to be much on the why and lots on the how. Do you have any theories @GBWhite?

Hi AJ,

As far as I'm aware I don't think any body really knows why, but viviparity (live bearing reproduction) occurs in at least a hundred or so species of squarmates (reptiles) including snakes and lizards. Some bony species of fish and half a dozen or more amphibians are also live bearing.

Basically, without getting to technical, it involves the direct transfer of nutrition from mother to the embryo in a controlled environment where in oviparity, nutrition is provided in the form of an egg yoke and the development and survival of the enclosed embryo is pretty much left up to the elements.

Considering that the successful development of the embryo of reptiles, be they viviporous or oviporous is dependant on thermoregulation (temperature) and humidity as well as nutrition, it is quite possible that viviparity in reptiles may relate to an evolutionary survival development where females have adapted to control the incubation and development of the embryos through basking and direct nutrition to provide a higher probability of producing healthy offspring with a greater chance of survival rather than depositing eggs in an unknown environment and hoping for the best.

Why is the big question and it may be possible that it will have a lot to do with species survival related to environmental issues.

Just my thoughts,

Cheers,

George.
 
I may be wrong but i believe there are more live bearing species in the cooler areas of the country and more egg layers in the warmer areas.
 
Wow, thanks George! That's exactly the kind of detailed answer my brain loves. I was reading that the mothers actually carry the eggs inside themselves. The evolutionary processes that led to this astound me. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and the babies are beautiful!
 
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