Iām someone whoās really enthusiastic about reptiles, reptile breeding, ect.
Snakes tend to lay all their eggs in one go. They get back to eating relatively fast and donāt have to worry about it again for the entire year. Itās also hardly a drain on them because being cold blooded really reduces your need to feed, so to say. They also usually wont lay at all unless they brumate for some time. Brumation is a state of semi-hibernation they undergo in cold temperatures. After brumation, the snakeās reproductive systems will associate āNo long cold = Spring = Time to layā.
Lizards, on the other hand, lay eggs on a regular state rather than all at once, then stop for the year. These eggs are usually quite sizable too, and are a constant drain on their hunger. Once again, itās a yearly basis, but they see increased fertility for their lower clutch sizes, meaning most of the babies will hatch, even if not fertilized bizarrely.
Game wise, the āsnake approachā would mean you get a temporarily increased appetite in winter, only to re-gain your loses in food via eggs in spring.
The ālizard approachā would be closer to slimelings gameplay wise, over a longer span of time, and would be a constant drain of appetite to where eating the eggs really wouldnāt help at all and letting them hatch would be preferable.
Iād take it, once a year appetite increase for some nice food stockpiles/minions isnāt bad at all. To answer concerns about eating your own eggs or making the minions ādie fasterā, reptiles arent really loyal to their family at all, and once they can survive on their own, they do so. Reptiles also really donāt care about eating their own eggs, as long as a few hatch first, theyāll gladly gobble down the ābad eggsā.
