TURTLE WORLD

Presents:

HOW DO AND WHY DO SNAKES SHED?

                Snakes shed their skin as they grow.   When a snake begins to grow, the old body scales need to be replaced by larger ones.   The new scales begin to grow under the old scales and when done, the snakes will shed the smaller, older scales.     This process of growth begins and when the skin needs to be replaced because it is too small, the snake emits an oily type substance that “flows” between the old and new scales.   This “oil” is a milky fluid and makes the snakes eyes turn a grayish color and the entire body becomes much duller in color.    After a few days, the fluid is absorbed back into the body and the snakes eyes become clear once again.    While the snakes eyes are “milked over” they are for the most part blind and often become very defensive and should be handled carefully if handled at all.

            Now that the old scales have been loosened from the new ones, the snake will begin the actual shed.    They begin by rubbing their nose on things around them.   Slowly the skin begins to peel backward.   The lower jaw is usually first followed by the top part of its head including the scale that covers the eye!   Once past the head the skin is removed inside-out . . . this would be similar to grabbing the top of a stocking and pulling it off inside-out,  backwards.

             When complete, the snake will have a fresh clean and brightly colored skin once again.    Left behind will be a hollow replica of the snake.    The shed skin will show each scale as well as a faint ghost pattern of what the snake itself looked like.    This enables  some scientist to determine data about the snake with out actually seeing the animal itself.    In the case of a rattlesnake, each shedding will result in an additional button added to the rattle on its tail.    If the snake sheds three or four times in one year then it will gain the same number of rattles.    This is why you can not tell the age of a rattlesnake by the number of rattles it has on its tail.    A rattle snake may also loose part of its rattle sometimes adding to the impossibility of age determination.   

             So the next time you are walking and find a snake skin try and identify what specie it came from and try and sketch what you think it might have looked like!    See if you can find the scales that cover each eye and look at the belly scales to see how they differ from the other scales.    Remember a snake skin can’t bite and won’t crawl away!     So go a head and enjoy and have fun!!!!

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