Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can you accurately measure the length of a snake by measuring a freshly shed skin? My albino black rat shed today, and her shed skin is about 29" long. A bit longer than I expected, but I've never been able to get her to stretch out completely on a yardstick. Is there a trick to measuring snake lengths?

A shed skin can stretch anywhere up to 10% longer than the snake itself, so they can give a ballpark figure but not an exact length of a snake.

Snake sheds can stretch up to 20 percent longer than the snakes actual body length so they're never a good choice for determining length. Two ways I know of accurately measuring snakes are by using a "squeeze box" or using a piece of string. A squeeze box is simply a big flat box with a clear lid filled with something like egg crate foam. You put the snake in the box, close the lid to squeeze it into the foam, thereby immobilizing it. You then trace out the snakes midline with either a transparency marker or a piece of string. Release the snake and then measure your marker line or piece of string. The other method using just a string is okay but often gives measurements that may be innaccurate by several cm.. In this method you simply hold a piece of string to the snakes body as it crawls through your hands, trying to keep the string tight to the snakes body the whole time. Like I said it's difficult and allows for considerable innaccuracy. You shouldn't end up being multiple feet/cm off in measurements, but still expect to be off somewhat.

Matt Campbell

I've never used a squeeze box, but I do know a guy that used to swear by using the string on the back. I used to get longer measurements just stretching the same snake out, still having noticeable kinks. I'll have to try the stretch box sometime. I have found however that when trying to get a snake to straighten out, that if you hold the snake belly down against a flat surface they sometimes relax to where they straighten easier. Also measure them in sections using the method above. Don't pop the spine. That may or may not be bad for them, but that won't give you the true accurate measurment.

I've never used a squeeze box, but I do know a guy that used to swear by using the string on the back. I used to get longer measurements just stretching the same snake out, still having noticeable kinks. I'll have to try the stretch box sometime. I have found however that when trying to get a snake to straighten out, that if you hold the snake belly down against a flat surface they sometimes relax to where they straighten easier. Also measure them in sections using the method above. Don't pop the spine. That may or may not be bad for them, but that won't give you the true accurate measurment.

I've never used a squeeze box, but I do know a guy that used to swear by using the string on the back. I used to get longer measurements just stretching the same snake out, still having noticeable kinks. I'll have to try the stretch box sometime. I have found however that when trying to get a snake to straighten out, that if you hold the snake belly down against a flat surface they sometimes relax to where they straighten easier. Also measure them in sections using the method above. Don't pop the spine. That may or may not be bad for them, but that won't give you the true accurate measurment.

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Hmmmm I think I'll have to try that method, thanks. I'll also have to take some pics of her this weekend.

Same idea, a bit easier:

http://www.serpwidgets.com/cornsnakes/Apps/apps.html

Klyk