Editing Common slow worm (section)

== Reproduction ==
[[File:Blindschleiche 04.jpg|left|thumb|Juvenile slow worm, paperclip for size comparison]]
In Central Europe, the mating season of the species is usually between late April and June. The males often fight violently for the females, although in most populations they are in the majority. The opponents try to push each other to the ground, bite each other, and wrap themselves tightly around each other. During mating, the female is often bitten on the head or the neck, while the male inserts his two [[Hemipenis|hemipenes]] into the female's cloaca. Copulation may take several hours. 
[[File:Evening_mating_of_slow_worms_(Anguis_fragilis).jpg|thumb|Evening mating of slow worms (Anguis fragilis)]]
Females sometimes mate later with other males. The gestation period of the females is 11 to 14 weeks, after which they usually give birth to eight to twelve young (extreme values: 2 to 28) between mid-July and the end of August, sometimes even later. Slow worms are [[Ovoviviparity|ovoviviparous]]; at birth, the 7 to 10&nbsp;cm long young animals are in a very thin, transparent egg shell, which they pierce immediately afterwards. They initially weigh less than a gram and still have a remnant of the yolk.<ref name="Wolfbeck&Fritz2007">Heribert Wolfbeck, Klemens Fritz: ''Blindschleiche, Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758.'' In: Hubert Laufer, Klemens Fritz, Peter Sowig: ''Die Amphibien und Reptilien Baden-Württembergs.'' Ulmer, Stuttgart 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-8001-4385-6}}, S. 619–632.</ref> Juvenile slow worms have a contrasting color scheme and pattern. The upper side of the body is silvery white to golden yellow, while the sides and underside are black.