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Name: Adele
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Question:
I recently came upon a 'ball' of snakes; intertwined and uncertain as to how many were in the 'ball'. They literally looked like a big ball; like someone had taken them and tied them in a big knot. I am uncertain as to what kind of snakes; possibly a garter snake variety. What were they doing?

Replies:
I'm not a herpetologist, but check this out:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/04/tech/main557015.shtml

Richard Barrans

A ball of several snakes is probably a breeding activity. There's a video of a very active writhing ball here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStzMBnWofE

And a couple short articles here:

http://www.anapsid.org/garters2.html

J. Elliott

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