A question about mating and breeding

[paulh]

Garter snakes can mate in the fall and store the sperm over the winter. And I have heard that corn snakes can mate in the spring, produce a clutch of eggs, and then produce a second clutch of fertile eggs a month or two after the first.

[Steveo]

And I have heard that corn snakes can mate in the spring, produce a clutch of eggs, and then produce a second clutch of fertile eggs a month or two after the first.

A lot of snake species can "double clutch" if you remove the first clutch right away. If the female is healthy, she can lay another.

Some birds are the same way. If a couple eggs disappear early in the incubation period, they'll lay a couple more to have a full nest. They might abandon the nest if all eggs disappear though.