Small-scaled Burrowing Asp - Reproduction

Reproduction

Reproduction is very similar to other snakes; Atractaspis lay eggs which hatch outside of the body, which means they are oviparous. The main sense that snakes utilize in order to find mates is smell, which is their strongest, most acute sense. The females produce an odor that sometimes signals to males that she is ready to mate; however, it has also been found that some snakes use these odors for defensive measures rather than attracting mates. It also appears that the males depend much less on sight than any other sense, and almost exclusively rely on odor. This is why, strangely enough, it appears that male snakes do not rely on color, and therefore color probably plays a very little role, if any, in the mating process. Males have even been found attempting to mate with dead females, which shows that they rely heavily on odor for mating. Polygamy is also rare in snakes, as the males usually practice monogamy. It has been suggested that some female snakes even mate with more than one male, with mixed paternity, sperm competition and storage. However, this seems unlikely because, given the former situation, females would not have to select the males for mating. However, in a 1992 report, Schuett and Duvall suggest that female choice does exist among snakes. The various mating rituals, or "dances" are sometimes very different between snakes, and very little is known so far about the specifics of Atractaspis microlepidota, or Atractaspis mating rituals in general.