Sacha writes

Later, she found the sloughed skin and brought it in which gave me a
bit of a start when I found it on the window sill in the back corridor!

I was wandering along a path in Portugal when I cam across the crumpled
skin of an adder-type snake lying across the path (black diamonds along
the whole length). 'Husband would like that' I thought, then some
cautious instinct kicked in, and I reached out very carefully with the
toe of my boot and touched the tip of the tail, whereupon the 'skin'
headed into the undergrowth at a rate of knots!
--
Kay