Discard

[TonyW]

I took this a year ago but reprocessed it just now.

[Shadowman]

Looks reptilian. Nice effort.

[JohnRostron]

Intriguing. I cannot decide what it might be. Animal, vegetable or mineral. Animal could be reptile cast-off skin, a sea-mat, or even a snail's tongue. Vegetable could be algal. Mineral could be bubble-wrap.

Put us out of our misery!

John

[WanKie]

My guess;
shedded snake skin....

Would a picture like this be an invite to put up riddles...?

[Kaye Leggett]

Bubblewrap ?

[TonyW]

Snakeskin it is - from a carpet python, laid out on our table tennis table.

Another view:



The same type of snake in a bucket. We saw it in transit and it is about 2 metres long. It stayed there for a couple of days, who knows why, and then quietly left.

[flashback]

I know you folks have spiders and snakes everywhere, but really, pythons in your carpets?
And when they shed, it's like pulling off a sock, always ends up inside out.

[IzzieK]

I was....actually......thinking........of going.......to Brisbane......but after seeing your shot here of that snake, I changed my mind. I will stay in Melbourne.

[KHarmon]

The shed and the picture of the snake remind me of a very long and involved story of when I was a police officer. Got a call of a snake in a house that a rental agency was showing to a nice young couple. Apparently the previous tenants had two Bermese Pythons as pets and they took the 11 1/2 footer out of his habitat to load it on the truck. When they came back in the snake was nowhere to be found. They decided it had escaped through an open door and after searching they left on their trip out of state to their new home.

When I got there an animal control officer, the real estate agent, potential tenants and another officer on my shift were there, arms folded, and staring at the house. Apparently the animal control officer did not consider a snake an animal, thus it was not his responsibility. I was the lone person with guts enough to go into that house and wrestle that big boy out of the house. It had just shed and was not at all happy to be handled. I never forgave the animal control officer.

As for your images, I really like them. The textures and details are really nice.

[TonyW]

Jack, you have raised an interesting point there. I have never considered whether the shed skin is inside out or not. I will have to investigate.

Izzie, we have to do something about you. You should visit to get a familiarisation course so that you appreciate the beauty of the wildlife and feel comfortable with it. If we had bears though, I might be really worried.

Kris, I have never actually wrestled a carpet snake. I have pulled on away from our chooks a couple of times when its head was within a few inches of one of them.There is a weird feeling when you put your hands under them when they are moving and feel their muscles rippling along.

[JohnRostron]

I should have guessed snake cast-offs. We used to have a couple of pythons in the lab where I worked (I used to be a lecturer in Animal Biology) and we regularly had cast-off skins. I think I was fooled by the concave appearance in an inside-out skin. It just shows how my memory of these details is fading.

John

[IzzieK]

Tony, On one of my trips to the Healesville Sanctuary, my American friend was with me and he decided for us to go to the Snake area. We were the first on the scene so we were situated up front. As the theatre filled up, I was inching my way to the back as the guy holding the snake was entering the area. He noticed me and asked me to come up nearer. My only reply was "Not on your dear life, Mister! Better be safe than sorry." Everyone laughed. I was serious.