Understanding Pets and Reptiles: Life Cycles and Care
Dogs: From Birth to Maturity
Dogs reach sexual maturity at approximately 6 months, but smaller breeds do so earlier than larger ones. Females become sexually receptive to mating during a period called estrus (heat), which occurs about twice a year and lasts between 6 and 12 days. After a gestation period lasting usually 63 days on average, between 3 and 6 puppies are born.
At birth, pups are blind and unable to stand, so they spend 90% of the time sleeping and nursing the remaining 10%. Cold is the greatest danger faced by newborns because their circulatory system is not yet capable of maintaining proper body temperature. For this reason, pups tend to stay near their mothers or huddle together for warmth. Mothers clean, nurse, and care for their young until they can defend themselves. By contrast, fathers are not involved at all in the care of newborns. Breastfeeding, which begins after birth, lasts between 40 and 50 days, and after this time, the weaning of the pups can begin.
Before the arrival of the puppy, it is better to buy food, containers, toys, a collar, a leash, and a bed. Owners should learn how the animal is properly secured: one hand under the front legs and the other holding the back.
Cats: Life Cycle and Characteristics
The cat is a small animal, particularly a carnivore (*Felis catus*), which belongs to the family Felidae. They are popular as pets and prized as hunters of mice and rats. Like nearly all members of the cat family, the domestic cat has retractile claws, good hearing and smell, remarkable night vision, and a compact, muscular, and very flexible body. The cat has an excellent memory and shows a considerable ability to learn through observation and experience. The natural life expectancy of the domestic cat is about 15 years.
The domestic cat reaches puberty around nine or ten months. A sexually mature female cat has zeal, or estrus, several times a year. During the estrous cycle, she is, in turn, responsive and attractive to cats. The gestation period is about 65 days, and the usual litter consists of 4 puppies. The kittens are born deaf and blind. Their eyes open at 8 or 10 days old, and weaning begins at 6 weeks old.
Snakes: Characteristics and Life Cycle
Snake is the common name for any reptile belonging to the suborder Serpentes or Scorpions. Their bodies are usually very long and cylindrical, while sea snakes and tree snakes often have laterally flattened bodies. Snakes are completely limbless, lacking external limbs, but some vestiges remain of their hind legs, visible at the base of the tail of large boas and pythons. They are covered with scales, consisting of an epidermal horny material arranged in regular rows, and usually overlap like shingles on a roof. The scales on the sides and back are smaller than those on the top of the head and ventral surface (bottom). The scales on the dorsal surface (top) may be smooth or submit a ridge or keel elongate. Other modifications of the scales allow the appearance of small bumps and tiny holes. They change their skin and outer covering of horny scales periodically, usually in one piece, including the tough, transparent cover that protects their eyes because snakes lack movable eyelids and their eyes remain constantly open. The frequency of shedding varies from one species to another and even within the same species, depending on the age and size of the individual. Young, rapidly growing snakes change their skin more frequently than slow-growing adults. In some species, molting occurs about every 20 days, while in others, it occurs only once a year.
Most snakes are oviparous and lay their eggs collected somewhere, but there are also some viviparous and ovoviviparous species. Both the eggs and the young can reach 100 per set, but usually, they are much less. Parental care does not exist in regard to the offspring, although some species protect the eggs during the incubation period; the female python even incubates them. Growth is quite fast, and the young reach maturity in the course of 1 to 5 years. The oldest recorded age among these animals is just under 30 years, both in the boa constrictor (*Boa constrictor*), as in the tigrina python (*Python molurus*), the royal python (*Python regius*), and the rattler forest (*Crotalus horridus*).
Snake Egg Paste
Turtles: Characteristics and Life Cycle
Turtle is the common name for reptiles that are characterized by a hard shell that covers the internal organs of the body. The current species are quite similar to the fossils of turtles that are known. The oldest fossils belonging to this group date back to the Triassic, which began 245 million years ago and ended 208 million years ago. Unlike the dinosaurs and many other animals that went extinct at the end of the Mesozoic, some 65 million years ago, turtles have continued to adapt and prosper.
They live on every continent except Antarctica and can be found in a variety of habitats, from lakes, rivers, and oceans to forests and meadows, and even in deserts. Like other reptiles, turtles are ectothermic animals (see Poikilothermy), i.e., their body temperature depends on the environment. This makes turtles most abundant in tropical and subtropical areas.
All turtles have internal fertilization and are oviparous. They bury their eggs in nests built on land and then usually leave. In many species of turtles, the sex of the offspring depends on the temperature of the nest. They are usually long-lived; some species live over 100 years.