The best way I've found to remove a snake or other small creature from duct tape or glue traps, is to use mineral oil. Apply mineral oil liberally and gently work the animal froee from the tape. You may have to reapply more oil in stubborn spots but using mineral oil makes it possible to remove even a snake thoroughly stuck, without losing anything more than a few scales. After the removal, I generally wrap the animal in paper towels and gently rub to help soak as much of the oil off the animal as possible, just because I don't want to put the snake back into its enclosure in excessively oily condition. The paper towels will soak up most of the oil.

Surprisingly, after excess oil removal, when I put the snake back, substrate (I use a mix of aspen bedding & carefresh) does NOT stick to the still somewhat oily snake. The snake does not remain oily for long but whether the oil is absorbed by the snake or its bedding, I don't know because when rechecking several hours later, the snakes haven't been oily and the bedding wasn't oily either. I've done this same thing to mice that escaped and got caught in a glue trap & by the next day their fur would be back to normal and not greasy.