Who's skin?

[tracy]

Mr and Mrs Greyman found some snake skin. Anyone able to tell us who it belonged to? How often snakes shed skin etc?

Pictures here:

http://www.swog.org.uk/articles/snakes-skin/

[greyman]

As tracy said we found the shed skin next to our main footpath in to our wood in Smalldole in West Sussex. The soil is woodland leafmould on a Gault clay bed at the bottom of the South downs ridge. We found it tangled up in the brambles (Oh yes we have a few LOL) by the side of the path. Mrs greyman had heard noises off, so to speak, several times and shortly after finding the skin we saw the rear 6 - 8 inches of a green/grey tail slinking off from a patch that now get's the sun following last years coppice activities. We're pretty sure this wee beasty is a grass snake but as we haven't seen the head we can't check for the tell tale marks behind the head. Reading up it looks like we are lucky to have it on our patch as they like to be near water (they swim very well and catch frogs and newty type critters) and the pond that is fed by a seasonal steam is some 100/150 meters down hill. They seem to shed from 8 - 15 times a year and this is the first one we've found. It took me a while to tease it out from the undergrowth without ripping it to bits. I'd like to know if anyone can say how much a snake skin is likely to either stretch or shrink when it is shed - this shin measures up around 35/36 ins.

Any 'hexperts' on Herpetology out there that can shed (scus the pun) any more light?

Greyman

[Darren]

Can't be certain, but it looks like a grass snake.