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A snake has not eyelids but does have scales over its eyes. When the lymphatic fluid appears between the old and new eye scales, the snake's eyes seem to be clouded over with wih a gray or bluish film. After about three days, the fluid is reabsorbed and the eyes become clear again. Two to three days after the eyes clear up, the snake is ready to slough off its old skin. It begins to expand and contract its ody, and the old skin soon splits around the mouth area. The snake rubs itself against branches or rough wood to help remove the old skin. The snake rubs itself against branches or rough wood to help remove the old skin. The snake soon wriggles out, often leaving its former skin in one piece but turned inside out. So when you see a descarded snake skin on the ground or in the grass, its tail points in the direction that the snake crawled away.
In an ideal molt, the old skin is sloughed off in a single piece. Even the delicate eye scales are preserved. Sometimes an unhealthy or disturbed snake does not shed its skin completely, and patches of the old skin remain attached, particularly around the head and eyes. These will usually come off with the next molt. Just after a snake sheds, its colors are brighter, and it is usually ravenously hungary.
A snake's ability to cast off its skin is considered in some culture to be a sign that snakes know the secret of immortality. A snake displaying its bright new scales, which are prominent after shedding, seems to have been re-born.
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