Bekhorot 8B

מי כתיב ״מכל החיה ומכל הבהמה״? ״מכל הבהמה ומכל החיה״ כתיב! ארור הוא מבהמה שנתקללה מחיה.

The Talmud responds: Is it written: Cursed are you from among all animals, and from among all animals? No, it is written: “From among all animals, and from among all animals,” meaning that it is cursed from among the livestock, which were cursed from among the undomesticated animals.

ואימא: כשם שנתקללה בהמה מחיה אחד לשלש, ומאי ניהו? עז מחתול, כך נתקלל הוא מבהמה אחד לשלש, דהוה ליה חמיסר ירחי!

The Talmud challenges: Why must it mean that the snake was cursed more than the donkey in the same proportion that the donkey was cursed more than the cat? But say instead that just as the livestock were cursed more than the undomesticated animals by a measure of one to 3; the Talmud interjects: And in what case is that? It is in the case of a goat, whose gestation period is 5 months, compared to a cat, whose gestation period is 52 days. The Talmud continues its challenge: So too, the snake was cursed more than the livestock, i.e., the goat, by a proportion of one to 3, which is 15 months.

איבעית אימא: ״מכל הבהמה״ כתיב. אי בעית אימא: קללה הוא, קללה שדי עילויה.

The Talmud answers: If you wish, say that it is written: “Cursed are you from among all animals,” including the most accursed of them, i.e., the donkey. If you wish, say instead that since it is a curse that the snake received here, the verse imposes upon it the most extreme curse that can be derived from the text.

אמר ליה קיסר לרבי יהושע בן חנניה: נחש לכמה מיעבר ומוליד? אמר ליה: לשב שני. והא סבי דבי אתונא ארבעינהו, ואוליד לתלת! הנהו מיעברי הוו מעיקרא ארבע. והא קמשמשי שמושי! אינהו נמי משמשי כאדם.

§ With regard to the gestation time of a snake, the Talmud relates that the Roman emperor said to R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: In the case of a snake, after how long a period of gestation does it give birth? R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said to him: After 7 years. The emperor said to him: But the elders, i.e., the rabbis, of the school of Athens bred snakes and they gave birth after 3 years. R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya responded: Those snakes were already pregnant from beforehand for 4 years. The emperor asked: But they had sex, and animals do so only in order to give birth, not when they are already pregnant. R' Yehoshua responded: Snakes also have sex like people, i.e., they do not do so solely for reproduction.