There are many different kinds of sansevierias. I will assume yours has flat sword shaped leaves, green with crossbanding, and maybe yellow margins. These are the common snake plants seen everywhere.
Cut off the old plant. The rhizome should dry out for a couple of days. I would plant the rhizome below the soil as far as necessary for the new plant. It will develope roots being fed by the leaves of the new plant. Keep it in a warm bright spot. Water sparingly. Use very light soil.
Enjoy,
Johanna

Depending on where you are & what your weather is, I'd wait 'til next Spring to do this. No hurry now & my own Sans. all seem to be slowing down for the fall.

Yes, the plant is as you describe, flicker, but no yellow margins. The leaves are about 4 feet tall, and spindly and floppy. The whole plant is tipping over, almost to the point of tipping out of the pot altogether. Thanks for the info on repotting the new plant. I will wait till spring if I have to, but I don't even know where I can put the plant right now, it's actually embarrassing to look at!

Oh, and the other thing I forgot to mention is that this darn clay pot that it's in has no drainage holes.

You could make it look better without propagating which might not take, (I never had much luck propagating this plant by leaf cuttings) It can take a while before you will even see what looks like a plant.

I'd move the snake plant the way it is now to where it will receive MORE bright "natural" light, like off to the side of a sunny window if you can provide it, even if that means taking it somewhere else. The off-shoot you want to propagate will need that same kind of light to do well, or it to will start to look sad like the parent.

In the meantime, you can slip a semi loose fitting rubber-band over the leaves in the mid section area to keep them more upright. Brighter light will help it out a lot, and the plant will eventually send out new stronger growth in the spring, and widen any skinny leaves that are growing on it now.

Snake plants are relatively slow growers and can rot easily if the pot has no drainage holes and the soil itself is not fast draining.

Billy Rae

Ok, so if I don't propogate just yet, should I repot the whole plant into a pot with drainage holes? that's funny you mentioned the rubber band, that's what I just put around it yesterday, and in addition to that, the bunch of leaves with the rubber band has to lean against the wall to remain upright. I think I have a good spot in my house with more light.

Your problems are twofold at a minimum. In addition to stress induced by low light, the plant is likely suffering additional stress from fertilizer and irrigation water salt build-up in the soil. High levels of soil salts make absorption of water and the nutrients dissolved in it increasingly difficult and finally impossible as the salt level rises. Drought stress is the result, no matter how wet the soil is. Low oxygen levels in the soil because shallow containers have a much higher % of saturated soil after watering than their deeper counterparts adds to the difficulties.

Al

Don't snake plants usually do alright without a lot of light? I see them in relatively low-light places all the time and while they do tend to get spindly and not terribly bushy I've never seen them get floppy.

I keep mine between a TV and a desk during the school year when it's at my dorm. Only about half of it is getting a good amount of light and I don't rotate it because it's huge and weights too much. The side that gets less light doesn't seem terribly worse off. Also, the tinier leaves that which don't really get *any* light seem to be doing alright too.

However, I do keep it outside in the summer where it does get a lot of light. I also get a fair amount of new growth during this time and the new shoots grow fairly quickly, too.

Anyway, I imagine that would help. Along with putting it in deeper soil and a well-drained pot. They don't need a lot of water unless you're in a relatively hot environment. Anyway though, you usually see snake plants in pretty deep soil. I'm guessing the dirt gives them stability and also gives the water somewhere to drain to.

If it were mine, I would slip the entire plant out of it's pot with the whole root-ball attached, or at least as much of the roots as you can get and find a pot (I use clay) either the same size, or one smaller, you want an inch between the root-ball and inside of the pot.

Put it where it will get good bright light, a little sun or dapple sun is ok too, just not hot burning sun.

If you put a stick that's slighter taller than the plant as close to the leaves as you can down into the soil and twist a small section of the rubberband so you'll have a small loop to slide down over the stick to help keep the leaves upright instead of using a wall, or, you use a thin strip of soft material tied to the stick, or even a couple of sticks placed on either side.

It might take a while, but in much better light you should see improvement in a few months after the weather warms.

Make sure when you water, water it thoroughly when the soil is dry, spill out any of the drained water from the tray after watering. Water it less in winter, remember, it's semi succulent, so the leaves hold water.

I wouldn't feed it for a while, not until it's starts to look nice and healthy with new growth (spring & summer months only) Use half strength every other month until like early to mid Aug/Sept.

Billy Rae