Kansas bull snakes caught mating on cell phone video

Love was in air — or rather the driveway — for two central Kansas bull snakes last week.

Dawnae Urbanek Bunch found the lovers mating in her driveway on a farm south of Kanopolis, Kan., as she was returning home from work.

“As I approached the snakes, I thought they were rattlesnakes, which alarmed me as I’ve never seen rattlers near our home, but when I got close enough, I could see they were bull snakes,” she said.

At first she thought they were fighting but did a quick Google search and learned they were being amorous.

“I decided to record since I’d never seen snakes mating and figured others probably hadn’t either,” she said.

Not being comfortable around snakes, Bunch shot the video from the safe confines of her car. She does, however, appreciate the bull snakes’ efforts at keeping the rodent population under control on her farm.

Breeding season for bull snakes generally takes place in March or April. Females will lay three to 24 eggs about 64 to 79 days later.

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 12:06 PM.