Being that our mods will credit us with a post count from other forums, I figured I will start sharing some I have started in the past.
This one is a few years old, but it might help one of you out someday if you acquire a snake skin you would like to preserve.
First step is to acquire a snake. This one is a western diamond back from Texas.
Lay the snake on his back to skin. Try to keep your belly cut as straight as you can, if not you will have a jagged crooked edge on the finished skin.
I use my thumb between the skin and body to get it started, after that you can just pull the skin off, it is pretty simple. Just be carefull when you get close to the vent, it is easy to rip here.
Next you need to wash the skin in soap and water, dish soap works well.
Dry it off a bit with a towel and start fleshing the skin. I've found that if I pin down the skin as in the pic, it is alot easier. Don't worry about putting holes in it with the pins. The snakes I'm dealing with are full of cactus thorns and holes allready! The holes are small and close up.
After fleshing it, repeat the washing, and flesh it again to get anything you might have missed.
It should look like this when you are done.
The skin now goes into a salt water bath for 2 hours. The recipe I have gives no ratio on salt to water, so I just guess.
Now take the skin out and rinse it thoroughly.
Mix up a solution of 4 parts glycerin to one part water and add the snake. You need to stir or shake this at least 2 times a day for a period of 4-5 days.
You can pull the skins out to dry and hang them lenghtwise. They tend to curl. Either pull them cross ways to keep them open or tack them open on cardboard, and flip them periodically till they stay flat on thier own.
Here's a skin almost finished and one in the salt bath.
This one is a few years old, but it might help one of you out someday if you acquire a snake skin you would like to preserve.
First step is to acquire a snake. This one is a western diamond back from Texas.
Lay the snake on his back to skin. Try to keep your belly cut as straight as you can, if not you will have a jagged crooked edge on the finished skin.
I use my thumb between the skin and body to get it started, after that you can just pull the skin off, it is pretty simple. Just be carefull when you get close to the vent, it is easy to rip here.
Next you need to wash the skin in soap and water, dish soap works well.
Dry it off a bit with a towel and start fleshing the skin. I've found that if I pin down the skin as in the pic, it is alot easier. Don't worry about putting holes in it with the pins. The snakes I'm dealing with are full of cactus thorns and holes allready! The holes are small and close up.
After fleshing it, repeat the washing, and flesh it again to get anything you might have missed.
It should look like this when you are done.
The skin now goes into a salt water bath for 2 hours. The recipe I have gives no ratio on salt to water, so I just guess.
Now take the skin out and rinse it thoroughly.
Mix up a solution of 4 parts glycerin to one part water and add the snake. You need to stir or shake this at least 2 times a day for a period of 4-5 days.
You can pull the skins out to dry and hang them lenghtwise. They tend to curl. Either pull them cross ways to keep them open or tack them open on cardboard, and flip them periodically till they stay flat on thier own.
Here's a skin almost finished and one in the salt bath.
