Four feet long from snout to tuckus, that’s the length of the snakeskin we found by the water spout today. That’s an impressive creature. Did it live under the wooden shingles of the house, as Gil proposes? The shedding itself must be beautiful, if terrifying. A snake causes a rip by rubbing against a rock or log (or shingle), something rough, then wriggles out, splitting the tissue along the way. The patterns on the new skin exactly match the patterns of the old, but the new skin is luminous, almost transparent.
Jean Zimmerman 