Dissociated Reproductive Pattern
Red-sided garter snake:
- note: male lizards and snakes have 2 penises; when they mate they use only one, hence the term--hemipenis
- note: cloaca is a Latin term for �sewer�; it refers to the fact that all vertebrates but mammals have a single urogenital opening once mating takes place, the female becomes unreceptive
once mating has occurred, the female becomes unreceptive and leaves the area; she will gestate and the young will be born at the end of the summer
males will engage in sex behavior for about 3-4 weeks following emergence from hibernation
following courtship and copulation, both males and females will shift their behavioral responses exclusively to feeding