Originally Posted by snowgyre

According to scientific literature, water loss is the same between scaleless snakes and scaled snakes. Granted, this is one of only two papers I could find, and they were both published in the 70s.

In short, if there was any difference between the water loss in scaleless and scaled snakes, we should see it in Nerodia, since their skin is more permeable than other species of snakes. Since corn snakes aren't aquatic, their skin probably has a higher fat content than water snakes, and therefore their ability to retain water should be fine even in relatively dry situations.

Granted, I have never owned a scaleless corn, so I'm not sure what kind of anecdotal evidence some of you may have. But the scientific literature seems pretty clear... water loss is similar between scaled and scaleless snakes. However, scales have a multitude of functions, not the least of which is protection from abrasions and depredation. In the wild this is probably a very significant danger to scaleless snakes, but in captivity these risks are obviously minimized or non-existent.