Anyone Know the Answer to this Trivia Question on Snake Skin???

Let's say your BP just had a complete shed and you find its skin rolled up in a small ball kind of like an unused condom. It's still moist and you carefully unroll it without over-stretching it but without leaving any skin folded over itself either to reveal a one-piece unbroken snake skin with eyecaps embedded in the head section (cool! :D). You lay the skin on the carpet and gently flatten it (again without stretching it) so you can see all of its details evenly spread out.

When you measure the skin will it be:

A.) Equal to the actual length of your BP the day she shed

B.) Longer than your BP because some stretching inevitably occurs during shed and/or when unrolling the skin.

or

C.) Shorter than your BP because the skin shrinks slightly when it dries?

:confused:

(Since my BP just shed as decribed above I think I have an idea of what the correct answer is, but was wondering if there are any aficionados out there who know the actual answer.)

In my experience that sheds tend to be about 1.5 times the length of the animal due to stretching during shed. So my answer would be A.

I've never tried or measured, but I would assume the skin to be LONGER than your snake. I think of it like a pair of pants. They always look long until you get your legs and butt in there to fill 'em out... lol

The shed is definitely much longer than the snake, but I have no idea how much longer. Is there a ratio or formula for this?

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

In my experience that sheds tend to be about 1.5 times the length of the animal due to stretching during shed. So my answer would be A.

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It does infact appear to be A (same length), but your explanation seems to indicate you would have chosen B (longer). Thanks for guessing!

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

I've never tried or measured, but I would assume the skin to be LONGER than your snake. I think of it like a pair of pants. They always look long until you get your legs and butt in there to fill 'em out... lol

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I would have thought so too, but it looks like it's the same length - unless in trying to be so careful as to not stretch the skin I left it slightly shrunken up so it measures the same length, if not an inch shorter. Thanks for taking a stab at it!

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Originally Posted by demjor19

The shed is definitely much longer than the snake, but I have no idea how much longer. Is there a ratio or formula for this?

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Thanks for the reply. I have no idea either ... perhaps it varies by species, environment, etc. The answer acually looks like A, or perhaps C, but I don't know for sure because I don't have a precise measurement of my BP lying in a straight line. :D

All of my biggest carpet python's sheds seem to not roll out nicely, and end up being about 3/4 as long as him due to a wrinkle factor.

Our rainbow boas however shed EXTREMELY nicely, and in fact don't even roll up their sheds. Their sheds come out completely straight off of their bodies. Next time they shed I hope I'll remember this thread so I can measure and come back with results.

For fairly accurate length measurements, use this program:
http://www.serpwidgets.com/Apps/measure.html

just take an OVERHEAD picture of your snake on the floor with little to no angle so you get a nice, flat 2D image without any depth of field. Make sure you have a ruler or extended measuring tape (or other measurable item for size reference) in the picture. The longer, the better and more accurate you will be. Use the program as instructed to measure your snake!

Hi,

I would have said B?


dr del

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

All of my biggest carpet python's sheds seem to not roll out nicely, and end up being about 3/4 as long as him due to a wrinkle factor.

Our rainbow boas however shed EXTREMELY nicely, and in fact don't even roll up their sheds. Their sheds come out completely straight off of their bodies. Next time they shed I hope I'll remember this thread so I can measure and come back with results.

For fairly accurate length measurements, use this program:
http://www.serpwidgets.com/Apps/measure.html

just take an OVERHEAD picture of your snake on the floor with little to no angle so you get a nice, flat 2D image without any depth of field. Make sure you have a ruler or extended measuring tape (or other measurable item for size reference) in the picture. The longer, the better and more accurate you will be. Use the program as instructed to measure your snake!

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Wow, I didn't know there was such a cool program for getting an accurate measurement with a picture. :) I'll have to check it out! And, btw, I think you're right - the wrinkle factor seems to reduce the shedded skin's length - in my case by a factor of only 10% shrinkage.

P.S. - It's really cool your r.b. boas shed out in one piece without rolling! What kind of substrate are they on? My BP is on paper toweling with humidity in the 70-80% range during shed and has plenty of rough rocks to rub against in her tub - but I think she sheds at night in her hide because that's where I've found her skins ... right next to her in her warm hide.

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

I would have said B?


dr del

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Thanks for the guess, but it's looking like A or C from my best estimate at this time since I haven't used the snake measurement app yet that mainbutter suggested above.

I keep my BRBs on cypress.

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Originally Posted by Docile1

It does infact appear to be A (same length), but your explanation seems to indicate you would have chosen B (longer). Thanks for guessing!

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Lol yeah that's what he meant . See this is what happens when you let the man type the answer lmao ..... Just kidding!

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

Lol yeah that's what he meant . See this is what happens when you let the man type the answer lmao ..... Just kidding!

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See this is what happens when you share an account with your girlfriend lmao ..... Just kidding!

In general the shed skin is longer. The scales that normally overlap are separated by the loose skin that joins them but is hidden between the scales unless the snake is eating, shedding or gravid. Add that small amount a hundred or more times and you can easily increase length 4 to 8 inches per foot of skin.

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Originally Posted by ScottNBecky

See this is what happens when you share an account with your girlfriend lmao ..... Just kidding!

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Thanks ... You guys are cute! :P

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Originally Posted by wilomn

In general the shed skin is longer. The scales that normally overlap are separated by the loose skin that joins them but is hidden between the scales unless the snake is eating, shedding or gravid. Add that small amount a hundred or more times and you can easily increase length 4 to 8 inches per foot of skin.

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Cool! ... Thanks for the very interesting answer. ;)

Since I was very careful not to stretch the shedded skin while unrolling it, it appeared that it was the same length or perhaps even a bit shorter.

Just out of curiosity, do your bp's shed with or without rolling up their shed? And, might this question make an interesting poll question?

The answer is C because it covers less surface area

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Originally Posted by EvesFriend

The answer is C because it covers less surface area

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Not sure that makes sense, especially when considering Wilomn's answer above. So I think B is probably more likely, but thanks for your answer! :)

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Originally Posted by wilomn

In general the shed skin is longer. The scales that normally overlap are separated by the loose skin that joins them but is hidden between the scales unless the snake is eating, shedding or gravid. Add that small amount a hundred or more times and you can easily increase length 4 to 8 inches per foot of skin.

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Well, it's official ... it does indeed appear that the answer is B: Longer.

I recently checked the answer in The New Encyclopedia of Snakes by Chris Mattison and in the section: Morphology & Function, on page 35, he states that "Shed skins are appreciably longer than the snakes from which they have come away, by up to 20 percent."

Btw, this book, published in 2007, is really nice and worth checking out! ... lots of good, (and according to the author) credible information put together in a great format with lots of high quality pictures.