How do snakes lay eggs?

Snakes lay eggs after a female mates with a male; she then deposits two to 16 eggs in a group called a clutch. Some species of snakes lay up to as many 50 or more eggs at a time.

Mother snakes incubate their eggs by burying them in loose sand or soil, or by wrapping their bodies around the eggs and "shivering" in order to generate heat. Most species of snakes leave the eggs to hatch, and the baby snakes do not receive any parental care.

Exceptions to this are found in some species of pythons and in the king cobra snake. With these snakes, the mother stays with her eggs to protect them from predators.