Breeding habits and artificial hatching methods of snakes

1. Breeding habits of snakes

Snakes are dioecious animals that are fertilized, oviparous or oviparous in vivo. The sexual organs matured 2-3 years after hatching. There is no obvious difference between male and female snakes in appearance, but it is easier to distinguish between similar snakes of the same size, the female snakes generally have a smaller head and a short fat tail, while the male snakes have a larger head and a slender tail. When squeezing the back end of the anal foramen with two fingers, the anal foramen of the female snake appears flat and concave, and the male snake's anal foramen will reveal two "semi-penises", that is, a pair of copulators, which is an easy way to accurately distinguish between male and female snakes.

Snakes mate in estrus in spring or autumn. During the snake breeding season, a gland at the base of the female snake's tail emits a special smell that males use to track the female. Male snakes have a pair of copulators, the so-called "semi-penis", which usually contract to the base of the easy tail and protrude from the cloaca during mating, using only one side of the "semi-penis" in each mating. During mating, the two snakes are tightly wrapped around each other, their heads are on the same side, the male snakes tremble violently, while the females lie on the ground, and the females and males separate after ejaculation. During the breeding season, a male snake can mate with several females. In the annual breeding season, although female snakes only accept mating once, the sperm stored in the cloaca of female snakes can still be fertilized within 3 years. Therefore, in captivity, the ratio of male to female snakes can be at 1:8.

The reproduction of snakes can be divided into two types: oviparity and oviparity. The snake egg is long oval, the egg shell is hard, milky white or light yellow. Eggs are laid in grasslands, fallen leaves and fertilizer piles with good concealment and a certain temperature and humidity. With the exception of the king cobra and Agkistrodon acutus, most of the other snakes leave the spawning place after laying eggs and allow the eggs to hatch under natural conditions. An oviparous snake whose eggs develop in its own fallopian tubes and then give birth to a baby snake.

2. Artificial hatching of snake eggs

As the hatching of snake eggs is greatly affected by environmental conditions, artificial hatching can be carried out in order to improve the hatching rate. Check whether or not to lay eggs in time according to the spawning period of different snake species. During the examination, first use one hand to hold the snake's neck gently, and the other hand gently massage from the snake's abdomen to the anal hole. If the recess in the abdomen is closer to the anal foramen, the closer it is to the anal foramen, the more it means it is about to lay eggs. Female snakes that are about to lay eggs must be locked in a snake box or lay eggs as soon as possible. Female snakes that are about to lay eggs must be locked in a snake box or spawning room to lay eggs as soon as possible.

Snake eggs laid must be placed in an incubator in time to hatch. The incubator can use either a wooden box or a water tank. Hatching method take Silver Bad Snake as an example, first put a large water tank into a cool and dry incubator, put half a jar (at least 30 cm thick) of semi-dry and semi-wet loose soil or fine sand, and then place the snake eggs flat on top of the loose soil or fine sand. The cylinder surface is covered with a hole bamboo screen or barbed wire to prevent rats from eating eggs or small snakes from escaping. Soak an appropriate amount of fresh and dried rice straw (wheat straw or Leymus chinensis) in water for 1 hour, then wring out the water and putting it on the egg surface after 3-5 days, and then dry the grass thoroughly for 3-5 days to adjust the humidity. Turn the eggs every 10 days. During the whole incubation period, the room temperature should be controlled at 20-25 ℃, and the relative humidity should be 50%-90%. After hatching for 25 to 30 days, the embryonic development can be seen from outside the eggshell. If the reticular vessel in the egg embryo gradually thickens and spreads gradually, it shows that the embryo develops well and can hatch the baby snake. If the embryo has no fat tube or the vessel is spotted and does not spread, it means that the embryo has died, then the baby snake cannot be hatched and needs to be removed in time. Generally, the incubation period is 40-50 days. When the baby snake comes out of the shell, it uses the egg teeth to cut the egg shell, showing 2-4 one-centimeter-long cracks. The head first sticks out of the shell, and the body crawls out slowly. It takes about 20-23 hours to get out of the shell completely. On the other hand, the young snake that comes out of its shell is as light and agile as the adult snake. But often can not take the initiative to eat and drink, must be artificially laid and fed with bait, see the feeding of young snakes in this section for details.

The key to the success or failure of artificial incubation is as follows:

(1) collect eggs in time and hatch as soon as possible. If the eggs are stored for too long or exposed to the sun, the hatching rate will be reduced.

(2) the eggs must be placed horizontally, and the dead embryos should not be removed in time by turning the eggs every 10 days during hatching.

(3) timely adjust temperature and humidity if the temperature is 20 ℃ lower and the relative humidity is higher than 90%, the hatching period will be prolonged and the hatching rate will be reduced; if the temperature is higher than 30 ℃ and the relative humidity will be lower than 40%, the egg water will evaporate quickly, the egg will be sunken, and the hatching rate will be very low. Therefore, the core condition of hatching is to master temperature and humidity. When the temperature and humidity are abnormal, adjustment measures should be taken immediately. If the humidity is too high, open the box lid or cylinder lid in time to volatilize the water; or place a 60 ℃ warm water bag 30-40 cm away from the egg surface to accelerate water evaporation; or appropriately increase ventilation to reduce humidity.