Shameless snake caught on video stripping off its skin at SC nature preserve

A large South Carolina snake has become a hit on the internet for shamelessly stripping off its skin as cameras rolled at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort south of Charleston.

The resulting display was posted on Facebook by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, where it has been viewed 6,300 times since Wednesday.

It shows the yellow rat snake — a species that grows to 6 feet — pulling itself out of its old skin, much like someone pealing off a knee-sock. It takes less than 15 seconds, as the snake twists and turns against the walls of its spacious terrarium.

“Snakes ... shed their skins periodically and do it all at one time,” the state posted with the video.

“A few days before a snake sheds, its eyes will look blue in color, and during this time, the snake has a tendency to be more easily agitated because it can’t see very well.”

The size and age of the rat snake were not revealed by the Kiawah Island Nature Program, where it lives at the Heron Park Nature Center. Kiawah Island is about 25 miles south of Charleston.

Adult yellow rat snakes are nonvenomous, grow to 4 to 6 feet, and can live 20 years in the southeastern United States, according to Reptilesmagazine.com.

“The skin of a snake is different from the skin of a mammal (including us) in that it does not grow as the animal grows,” ReptileKnowledge.com reports. “Snake skin has a limited capacity for growth and enlargement. Thus, when a snake outgrows the skin it’s in, it simply sheds the outer layer and starts fresh.”

Viewers of the video were divided on whether it was “cool” or the stuff of nightmares, with several suggesting that snake shedding is probably tougher than it looks in the video.

“It’s like taking off a t-shirt, wrong side out,” guessed Susan Creamer on Facebook.

“Building on that analogy, a tight t shirt (if it) were soaked in sweat, so you have to peel it off ...,” John Mott posted. “I bet it feels good for a snake in the same way.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 12:58 PM.