A Snake In The Grass

It was a little unexpected. Donna and I were out in the front yard counting chipmunks (not a euphemism!) yesterday afternoon when I noticed my dog Atomic playing with something a few feet away. Turns out it was about a two-and-a-half foot snake skin,

We have a fair amount of garter snakes on the island which is great news. They only do good things in your garden and though they are mildly venomous I've never heard of anyone being really hurt by one.

Looking over the discarded skin I was very impressed with what a complete specimen it was, almost like a whole other snake. But I also realized my own ignorance about the hows and whys of snake skin shedding. I can't figure out how a snake (or my late beloved tarantula Fluffy) could manufacture a second skin on the outside its body and then crawl out of it. It seems like a lot of work to end up looking essentially the same as you were before you bothered. So what's that deal?

Comments

[Raul]

we as humans are kind of the same way except we do it in a different way. next time your are drying off after a shower, notice what looks like crumbling dirt on your arm is actually shedding skin which our body is getting rid of.

Too bad it didn't come off like a snake. That would be awesome. I would for sure seek out the skin shed off of Megan Fox

[jen]

My two fiddler crabs just molted and I wondered the same thing. How did they slip out of that shell!?! The empty shells looked like ghost crabs until they finally disintegrated.

[db]

well.....how did it taste?

[Cam]

G-R-O-S-S!

Yes, I'm a girl.

[Heather]

Wow, that's a cool pic, Bean.

Are you busy getting your tribute to Estelle Getty ready for tomorrow's post??

[IHeartBean]

Bean, I am sorry about the loss of your beloved Estelle Getty.

[Stacey]

Why the hell are you counting chipmunks? Just shoot the little bastards and be done with it!

[Johnny Socko]

As Raul pointed out above, we humans do slough-off "dead" skin, but where we differ from snakes is that our skin is an organ with regenerative capabilities. It continuously repairs itself, so while we can't re-grow a severed arm, like a starfish, we DO re-grow skin to recover from minor scrapes. Snakes and certain other molting animals can only replace their skin in one fell swoop, and only at a time determined by their rate of growth.