Snake genitalia is not on the exterior of their bodies as it hides inside a pocket near the base of the tail called the cloaca, which also houses their liquid and solid waste system. Keep the ambient temperature of around 79-80 Fahrenheit for breeding a ball python. When a female snake is ready to mate she releases a special scent or pheromone from skin glands on her back. Once male snake mates with a female it next searches for a new mate. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web Eastern/black rat snakes are considered endangered in Massachusetts, and red rat snakes are considered endangered in the Florida Keys. Think of a small mouse walking through the brush looking for food to eat while the rat snake hides away in the brush and stages an ambush. Bellies are sometimes checkered in gray, brown, white or yellow. Amy June 22, 2014 at 3:18 pm. Scientific literature states that Snake evolution may have driven females’ snakes to grow larger. They are also found in southern Ontario. As we fight disinformation and misinformation, and keep apace with the happenings, we need to commit greater resources to news gathering operations. It has few natural enemies other than the king cobra which preys on it. When a female snake is pregnant she needs enough space to lay her eggs. Bathing a snake removes wastes from its body. In this stage of development, no eggs are involved. You will receive a verification email shortly. The following is a description of some common rat snake species' appearances. Wilson / Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Males tend to wait for the females to pass through their territory. Prism Books ltd. We focus on the agricultural side of coffee with a emphases on the environment and ecology. The proposal met with mixed reactions. Another sweltering summer day we found a large rat snake ensconced in the cool shade under our car. This snake reproductive method is a combination of oviparous and viviparous. Also the fact that they can store the sperm means they don’t have to have sex to reproduce. According to the University of Texas at Arlington’s Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, these commonly found snakes often grow more than 6 feet long. Through probing, you can identify the sex of your snake. Some species, such as the black rat snake/eastern rat snake, are known to be shy but somewhat snappish and aggressive when cornered, according to Marshall University. If a reptile owner wants to figure out the sex of their snake they do what is called ‘cloaca probing’ which is where they take a blunt probe and pass it into the snakes cloaca. They can be black, red, brown, yellow, gray or black-and-white colored. Burmese pythons reach sexuality at the age of 4-5 years. This is due to the fact that the skin coloration of the rat snake and that of the cobra looks similar to the naked eye.