Every year
during the rainy season, we find snakes in the open ground adjacent to our
apartment and the only thing preserve either of us was the compound wall; but
this time one of a snakes entered our parking lot and slithering here and there
before thrown other side of the compound wall by our watchman. This was the
first I saw a snake come across the compound wall, whereas I have heard my
neighbors making noise about snake couple of times early, and I believe it
could have come through the open gate at the entrance since there’s less chance
for them climbing the plain vertical wall.
From the time
we shifted to apartment in 2005, the open ground has been left unchanged with
growth of wild vegetation and survival of few trees; and except threaten of
snakes, it has the advantage of many esp. deriving different species of birds
and insects and giving a pleasant stay environment of calm and less pollution.
A year back to back too, we sighted a rat snake staying sometime along the
other side of our compound wall and among the debris making its bedroom by wrapping
an old bed left by someone (check the
photos here).
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| (click pictures for enlarge to view the snake scale near) |
Two days later
to Deepavli, my mom found a shed snake skin or scale on the open ground along
with the neighbors, and few meters from our house the snake had molted its
entire scale stretching few meters in length. Some said it’s a cobra scale and
it must shed during the new moon occasion but being uncertain, I compared the
photos which mom captured for me, with Google images, to ensure the species.
I also learn that
the process of shedding scale in snakes, which according to scientific term, known
as Ecdysis (strip off in Ancient Greek), or molting or sloughing in normal
usage is shedding of the complete outer layer of the skin in one layer, which
is a repeated process periodically throughout a snake’s life. A snake is suppose
to shed its skin once or twice a year, whereas the younger once which still growing
shed up to four times a year and many a time the skin peels backward over the
body from head to tail, in one piece like an old sock.
It’s said that
the snake stops eating and often hides or moves to a safe place before shedding
the skin; the snake wriggles out aided by rubbing against rough surfaces is demonstrated
through my above pictures. The discarded skin gives a perfect imprint of the
scale pattern and it is possible to identify the snake as this discard is reasonably
complete and intact.
