Shed

Digger’s most recent shed (Western Hognose Snake)

Both of our snakes, Digger and Emory, have shed recently and it is fun to inspect the tissue paper-like skin. Snakes have a clear scale that covers each eye, and you can see how that scale sloughs off with the rest of the skin. There is even a hardened scale that covers Digger’s “hog nose” that sheds.

Snakes shed their tough outer skin so they can grow and I wondered how quickly our snakes have grown. I found that it is incredibly difficult to keep a live snake straight enough to measure its length, so measuring the shed skin is much easier. Digger’s most recent shed was 30.5 inches; he has grown 4 inches over the last 10 months! Emory has shed even more often and has grown nearly a foot longer since last September. At 52 inches long, she is nearing the typical length of adult Great Plains Rat Snakes, so I expect her growth spurt to slow down soon.