Slips sheds his skin for the first time, which is alienating and frightening for not only the other students, but himself.
- An Aesop: The blossoming teenagers of Charles Darwin Middle School learned that although the changes their bodies go through may appear to be weird and alarming at first, it's only natural and it's all just a part of growing up.
- Anachronism Stew: The instructional film, "It's Only Natural" had 1952, as it's copyright date. The film was in color, despite color television not being invented until the 1960's.
- Blah, Blah, Blah: Adam and Jake make these noises, when Slips was tuning them out, on account of him going crazy, needing to scratch.
- Burn the Witch!: The crowd chased Slips down the hall, chanting "Burn the snake! At the stake!"
- Character Development: After Slips becomes acquainted with shedding in this episode, he stopped suffering from it. All future episodes, wherein he shed his skin, he happily did it with ease and didn't fret about it.
- Freakiness Shame: Slips felt this, when he was getting berated for his bizarre skin condition.Slips: I wish I could just disappear.Miss Chameleon: Too bad you're not me. [vanishes]
- Going Cold Turkey: Slips did this early on in the episode, with scratching, but couldn't last even a few seconds.
- Here We Go Again!: As soon as the shedding nonsense was over and everyone stopped hating Slips, Slips sneezed on Principal Pixiefrog, and everyone, including him, started freaking out over Slips having disgusting germs.
- How Did That Get in There?: Jake denies owning Truffles Duvall merchandise, even when Slips uncovers some, specifically hidden in his locker.
- Instructional Film: "It's Only Natural", was a film from 1955.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Principal Pixiefrog implied that this episode wasn't the first time, an angry mob has happened in the school.Principal Pixiefrog: Poppycockadoodle. Do I need to institute another ban on pitchforks and torches?
- In the future episode, "The Citronella Solution", another angry mob with pitchforks and torches ensues and Mrs. Warthog reminds Principal Pixiefrog of this recurring issue and assesses how it's previous ban should have never been lifted to begin with.
- Pet the Dog: Principal Pixiefrog defends Slips when the other students form an angry mob and chase him, proves he's not responsible for the changes their going through, and even tells them to apologize to Slips.
- Puberty Superpower: We learn about the different kinds of puberty that all animals go through. Slips Python and his skin shedding, Lupe Toucan molts her feathers, a bear experiences hibernation, a deer loses his antlers, Adam gets his first chest hair, etc.
- Serpent of Immortality: Slips' old skin was getting extremely old and worn out, causing him to itch like crazy and basically fall apart. However, when he finally broke free of his old skin, he unveiled a beauteous, shining, new layer of skin, underneath, which glimmered in the light and made him feel so much better. Slips was delighted to hear that every time his skin got old and itchy, these problems would only be temporary and there'd always be come fresh flesh lying underneath.
- Shaming the Mob: Principal Pixiefrog did this to his students, when telling them there was nothing wrong with Slips shedding his skin.
- Torches and Pitchforks: The students of CDMS started up an angry mob, and used these, when attacking Slips.
- Transformation Horror: Slips breaking free from his old skin. Not only did he tear through his own flesh in the most tedious and grotesque way possible, but he also started developing some rather painful looking red sores all over his body as he did. Fortunately, the outcome of this ultimately led to him looking reformed and youthful again, while now feeling comfortable in his own skin.
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: This is technically what happened to Slips, when shedding, as he had a shabby and flaky exterior layer of skin, but when he shed it off, he had a shiny new layer of flesh, underneath.
- Typhoid Mary: Or at least, this is what everyone thought Slips was.
