I also notice that along with less frequent sheds is a diminished appetite- that's very common & makes sense, since their metabolism has slowed down.
I had a Baird's rat snake that lived to 26, but in his last years he needed a lot of my help to eat- apparently he had a stroke. Externally he looked good- but his movement was impaired.
I'm glad Armiyana mentioned cataracts- sometimes I've seen that in my oldest snakes.
My current oldest snake is 22 (a corn snake), & not far behind him is my rosy boa (19) & my TX longnose (20) years. Both the corn & longnose snakes are slim now, & don't want to eat as much, while my rosy boa doesn't seem old at all- some kinds of snakes (like BPs & rosy boas) age better (& may live longer) than others. 20+ years is quite old for a corn or longnose snake.
Reply With Quote