Los Angeles may not have the coldest winters, but our Mediterranean climate does get cold and wet enough to bundle up and spend more time indoors. This gives us plenty of time to reflect on the previous year while optimistically looking forward to the next.

On the lunisolar calendar, the new year happens in late January or early February, and this is celebrated as the Lunar New Year. Each Lunar New Year is associated with a different animal on a twelve-year cycle and it just so happens that this year is the Year of the Snake!

There are a few species of snake that share Debs Park with us, and they also spend more time “indoors” during the winter. Instead of bundling up inside houses, however, they curl up within their burrows underground and conserve energy. The most common species of snake that is reported in the park is the gopher snake, which is named after this tendency for snakes to burrow underground like gophers.

Although gopher snakes are the most reported sightings, there is a different species of snake that is technically the most commonly seen snake in the park. This of course is Rex, a California Kingsnake and the Center’s resident Animal Ambassador.

Rex was donated to the Center when it opened in 2003. It is thought that he had been a pet for a local family, but the details of Rex’s lore are not well documented. Regardless of his mysterious history, staff and visitors have been delighted by his presence over the last two decades. People of all ages like to stop by his tank, observe his behavior, talk to him, ask questions about him, and take his photo. We like to think that he enjoys the attention, especially because he often looks up curiously and comfortably when a human face approaches his tank.

One of the most exciting times to observe Rex is when he sheds his skin. All snakes shed their skin—in fact, so do humans! When people shed their skin, it usually goes unnoticed as microscopic skin cells are washed off in the shower. When snakes shed their skin, it happens almost all at once and is quite a sight to behold.

The first signs of an upcoming shed are glossy, white eyes. The entire body of a snake is covered with scales, including an eye scale to protect the snake’s eyeball. When it’s almost time to shed, that eye scale turns ghostly white as fluid builds up between the old skin and the new skin. When we notice Rex’s eyes turn white, we know that he might need some extra peace and quiet as he prepares for a new skin and a new beginning. Soon, pieces of scales start to peel off from his body, and sometimes he slithers out of his entire skin, leaving behind a thin snake-shaped tube with the texture of a plastic bag.

Snakes shed their skin for a few reasons: it helps prevent the buildup of parasites, it replaces any damaged skin with a new layer, and it provides the snake with more room as they grow. Visitors to Rex’s home can gently feel his old skins which hang next to his enclosure, like coats on a coat rack.

As we look back on the year behind us, the challenges we’ve faced, and the ways in which we’ve persevered, we can think of ourselves like snakes outgrowing our skin. Maybe you feel like you grow a little at a time and shed your scales slowly in small pieces. Or, maybe you feel like you’ve grown so much all at once that your old skin is ready to come off in one piece to be put on display for inspiration and admiration, like Rex’s skin.

Either way, as we make our way into the Year of the Snake and welcome warm weather in the coming months, we hope that you come out of your burrow, shed your old skin, and feel ready to tackle the new year with strong, glistening, new scales.