‘Rarest snake’ in the US hatches at Tennessee zoo — and there are 113 eggs left

An extremely rare snake has hatched at a Tennessee zoo as part of efforts to save the species from extinction, the zoo said.

The first Louisiana pine snake of the year hatched among a “whopping” 114 eggs, the Memphis Zoo said July 17.

In a video shared on Facebook, snake handlers weigh and measure the hatchling and hold it up to the mom’s tank to introduce the two of them.

The live snake and the others yet to be hatched will be released into the wild in spring 2025, zoo officials said. This year marks the most eggs produced in the breeding program to revive the wild population of the species, which is considered “ America’s rarest snake ,” according to the Memphis Zoo.

Efforts to introduce captive-born pine snakes into the wild began at the zoo in 2010. After years of releases, researchers said they discovered that the snakes that were bred in the zoo began reproducing on their own in their natural habitat.

“This is a monumental discovery that shows the captive-bred snakes have successfully adapted to the area and will hopefully recover from its endangered status giving hope to the future of this species,” zoo officials said.

The zoo’s conservation team has used natural breeding and artificial insemination, leading to the release of more than 400 pine snakes, officials said.

“I didn’t know that I would even live to see the benchmarks of success that we’re now seeing,” Steven Reichling, the zoo’s director of conservation and research, said in 2022.

The reptiles lay the largest eggs of any snake in the U.S. and have the largest hatchlings, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The snakes prefer to live underground in pine savannas in parts of Louisiana and Texas.

You can watch them hatch in real time by tuning into the Memphis Zoo’s livestream of the pine snakes’ egg box.

2-foot-long predator found dead in fish trap in China turns out to be new species

1-foot-long creature with ‘pointed’ teeth found lurking under log. It’s a new species

‘Slithery,’ unwanted creature is found in back of rideshare car, MN cops say. See it

4-foot predator killed by hiker turns out to be first-of-its kind sighting in Bolivia