Unlike other animals, it's impossible to say at what age state a snake is. I had a 21 year old Royal Python from a hatchling, and he looked no different physically to a 5 year old female.

I think that once snakes reach their average adult size, which can be between two and three years old, it's then impossible to age a snake visually, which is why records are so important.

 

My old Sinaloan milk (15+ at least, might be as old as 18, it's my memory that's gone, not his) looks the same now as he did as a young 'un.

By the way, a shed skin is considerably longer and wider that the snake it came from, due the soft skin stretching as it comes off. :2thumb:

 

I've got a Sinaloan who'll be 21 this year, i'd say she looks the same as she always had, it feel like her scales got a little extra black tipping in early adulthood but other than that the same. She's maybe had a couple of shedding issues in the last year i'm hoping to fix with a vitamin supplement, but other than that the same snake, same appetite and same activity level.

She's only ever been a 'pet' but i do wish i could go back in time and brumate her every year.

 

I kept a grey rat snake for 25 years, he was already fairly big when I got him, wild caught (many years ago), so must have been old. He only showed any signs of ageing in the last few months, a general loss of muscle tone and lack of movement. I had a garter (again a wild caught adult) for 10 years and it never showed signs of ageing.

 

Some snakes especially albinos seem to gain fatty lumps as they get old, older snakes tend to gain girth, the head also becoming broader.

Vipers tend to loose fangs more readily. Think they are just a bit more fragile with age.

 

Thank you for the replies everyone! It seems like as I'd thought there aren't really any indicators of age through appearance alone. My corns colouring may just have been how he always looked, though its interesting to hear that maybe his wider head shape was a feature of aging : victory: sorry not sure how to quote it but thanks for the tip on measuring snakes by their shed!

 

I suppose in the wild they would accumulate a few battle scars. In captivity kept under good conditions that wouldnt happen. I had a kingsnake for 17 years. He showed very little sign of ageing except muscle loss in his final few weeks.

 

I think the speckling ( salt and pepper dots ) you describe appears fairly soon. My oldest corn snake is just 7, she had completely clear colours till around 2-3 years old. Her belly was pure white and black, but around 2-3 she started getting some colour and black speckles in the white bits, and developed far more melanin over her colours after 3-4. I know corn snakes do get more melanin and colours darken as the snake gets older ( obviously, amels can't get the melanin "overwash"), and heads are a bit bigger.

According to Kathy Love book - old corns show loss of muscle, spine protruding on snakes of otherwise good weight, permanently cloudy eyes, or permanently gaping mouth. Bear in mind that this was intensively bred corn snakes, and that corns or any snakes that are kept well, and as pets ( I.e. not overbred ) will live longer and might not show almost any of these signs till very old ( as others have shown in the replies above ).