How to preserve the snake shed?

Molting is an omnipresent and obligatory phenomenon in the life of a snake. It is obliged to moult all its life. Moulting is natural in some species of reptiles such as snakes and lizards.

The subject of interest in this article is snake molting, or more precisely, the conservation of the molts of these specimens. Nevertheless, it is important to talk about the phenomenon of molting in general, to discuss the subspecies of snake that pass the molt, then it is important to know the course of the molt. And at the end, the real subject of the article will be exposed.

Snake molting

In general, all snakes must go through the action of molting throughout its life. No matter what species it is (cobras, pythons, snakes, anacondas, vipers, mambas, rattlesnakes, boas, …), no matter if it is oviparous or viviparous, no matter if it is small or big, a snake is obliged to shed its skin during its life.

The big snakes like the reticulated python, the boa constrictor, the Burmese python, the black spotted anaconda, the green anaconda, the yellow anaconda, being among the top 10 biggest snakes in the world, they are all obliged to go through this moulting phenomenon.

The dangerousness of the venom is not a reason not to molt either, so a venomous snake like the black mamba, the green mamba, the rattlesnake, the king cobra, the spitting cobra is not excluded to molt and even for the snakes in the process of extinction. All this to say that for all species of snakes, whether they are venomous, large, big, the moult is unavoidable.

Indeed, snakes are animals that grow quite fast and this leads to the phenomenon and no species of snakes can escape this phenomenon as a human who must put on clothes adjusted to his new size when he grows. No man would be comfortable wearing clothes from when he was 5 years old when he was 18. And likewise for this specimen, his body envelope is no longer big enough for his size and it is not at his ease so he is obliged to put on a new envelope adjusted to his new size. The phenomenon of moulting intervenes, that is to say that the reptile gets rid of its old envelope which is called snake moult.

It is also important to discuss the course of this phenomenon. The molt occurs monthly in young snakes but once they are adults, whether male or female, the frequency of the molt decreases sharply to 3 or 4 times a year.

We know that the snake is about to molt when, at first, it refuses to eat, then its color will become more and more whitish and its eyes start to see less than before because the molt covers the whole body of the reptile from its head to its tail.

Once the right time to get rid of the exuvia has arrived, the specimen looks for a rough surface like a rock, a stone, a branch to rub its snout on. At this point, the reptile tries to tear off the part of its snout to be able to unroll the molt from its head to its tail like a human taking off his socks.

And that’s all you need to know about this reptile’s molting phenomenon, it is now time to move on to the heart of the matter to which this article is dedicated and that is the methods to preserve a snake’s molt.

In order to preserve a snake’s molt so that it remains intact even after more than 10 years, we place it in a box, away from the light and especially in a dry place, we have to think of rolling it up delicately. To avoid deteriorating the moult, it must first become dry, but any contact with light is not recommended. And it is necessary to put it in dry places to keep its condition, if it is in wet places, it can soften it and its conservation will not prevent it from deteriorating quickly.

Some people, especially artists, use snake sheds to be able to turn them into a work of art to be displayed. Indeed, a snake shed is a perfect piece of jewelry because of its texture which has the same patterns as the scales of the snake from which the shed came off. Its value also depends on the rarity of the snake’s patterns.

In short, the molt is a great find for artists who are passionate about reptiles and amphibians like the lizard, snake. The molt can create a beautiful work of art hence the importance of this article, to help people keep their snake molt. But it is also interesting to discuss the different specimens that perform this magnificent phenomenon. An equally interesting and cultivating topic is an article about “Why Snake Molt?“.