Python length

[DrOsteo]

Does anyone know if any research has been done into the ratio between shed length and actual length of the snake? It would seem that this would be the easiest and most relaible way to measure if it was established as to how much the shed is stretched comapred to real length of snake.

Otherwise does anyone have any thoughts on this if the research has not been done, ie. any home research?

[Kyro]

For my 8ft coastal I usually take about half a foot off in length from her shed which seems about right when I have managed to measure her properly.I guess it depends alot on the actual size of the snake as too how much stretch you get, if that makes sense

[bredli84]

hey i can remember reading in another thread someone mentioned a ratio for this. so i think it must have been done! sorry i cant remember who though.

[junglepython2]

From what I have been told it is too variable and no clear relationship can be found.
Not for accurate measurements anyway.

[DrOsteo]

Has the research been done though, as variable as it may well be.

[Sdaji]

It depends on the species of snake, the condition of the slough, it probably varies between individuals and the sloughs are quite elastic. Try thoroughly moistening one and stretching it - you might be surprised. If you allow it to dry while stretched it will keep its length. The skin is (usually) fairly supple when it comes off and can potentially 'set' within a wide range of lengths after it dries. There is certainly no reliable, stable ratio, even for the same snake. A 10' snake might have sloughs between about 11' and close to 20'. The misconception that you can measure a snake from its slough is no doubt one of the reasons that the overwhelming majority of reports of snake lengths are larger than the actual length (other than for snakes under about 60cm, which are usually underestimates!).

Snakes are quite difficult to measure and I'd pluck 95% as a figure out of the air for the proportion of reports which aren't worth listening to. It certainly would be nice if sloughs could solve the problem!

[DrOsteo]

Thanks Sdaji. What would you say is the most reliable (and easy) way to measure a snake then?

[Magpie]

Put them on the ground up against a wall.

[Sdaji]

I agree with Magpie. Usually the easiest way to get a measurement of reasonable precision and accuracy is to get them to lie completely straight against a wall. When they are straight and still (you may or may not be lucky enough to get them to do this), mark the wall at the nose and tip of the tail and measure it after you take the snake away. I'm not particularly fussed about knowing the exact lengths of my snakes and haven't put in a great amount of effort into measuring them, but I'm guessing that in most cases this will take some persistance and perhaps won't work every day you try. The photocopier method is equally effective, but it isn't always possible or practical. The string method is reasonable... sort of, sometimes... and the computer image software option is just barely superior to a random number generator - in most cases an -unbiased- person who is familiar with snakes will be much more accurate and precise just by taking a glance at the animal (which is not to say the people will be all that good, just that the programs are very rarely worth using and give very misleading results). Unless you particularly care about getting things down to the nearest 5cm or so, you can usually get a reasonable measurement (within around 10%). In the end, it doesn't really matter exactly how long the snake is and peoples' obsession with snake lengths really just highlights ego related issues.

[DanN]

The most reliable way is to stretch the snake along a ruler/tapemeasure.

[RodSydAus]

Could you take a piece of string and walk it hand over hand the length of the snakes body. Then you could just measure the piece of the string after marking where it lines up with the other end of the snake. This would seem to be less of an indignity for the snake than being stretched out