How to Skin and Clean a Dead Snake

Step 8: Save skin for later use

Now you've got a great snake skin! Use it now, or store for later.

I was visiting my parents in Indiana, and didn't have time to process the skin before my flight home to CA. Instead I scraped off the residual goo, rolled the skin from head to tail, double-bagged it in freezer bags, labeled it, and stuck it in the freezer for a later visit. (Thanks, Mom!)**

What should I do with the skin? All suggestions are welcome.


**UPDATE: my parents had a power outage before my next visit, and purged the contents of the freezer including my snake skin.  D'oh!

Comments

[DuctTapeExtremeDude]

Can you keep the skin from rotting just by tacking it to a board or something and letting it air out or do you need to add something to help preserve it?

[canida]

It depends on where you live, and how well you've cleaned the skin.

If humidity is super-high, you'll likely want to rub the skin down with borax or salt to keep anything from growing on the skin while it dries, and tack it down to something like a screen for better breathability. If you live in a desert, far less to worry about - you can just tack it out almost anywhere and it will dry nicely.

Just be aware that the skin will be crispy, not pliable - you've got to do a bit of treatment to make it soft.

[DuctTapeExtremeDude]

Thanks! I've heard that if you put a skin over something and pull it back and forth so that it bends it will make it pliable. Would that work on a snake skin?

[mattiemack]

ill soon post a detailed segment on snake tanning soon you can make cool junk like me

http://www.instructables.com/id/Snake-Hide-accesories/

[nickolaiisoe]

Profit? Gow

[Ghattasdb]

Put it on a strip of leather and make a bracelet.

[kibukun]

Make it into a wallet, that way every one can see how awesome you are everytime you buy something!

[naruto the ninja13]

in my state its ileagal to kill or own a dead snake or its skin

[jwc1480]

Which state it that? That's a curious thing.

[johnnyappleseed]

I grew up in Mo. Very wasteful laws. I don't believe Mo. legislators understand ecological processes... Bureaucrats, humph!

[IncrediblyCondensedBlackMatter]

Missouri? i've never heard that law. i've been pulled over, and the cops dont say anything about my snakeskin wallet. apparently they've never heard this law either!

[ph1lt3ch]

 That's up there with some of the most pointless and stupid laws that I've heard...haha

[sarge69]

Let it soak in antifreeze for about a week and make it into boots or a cell phone pouch.

[sculptur]

i've never heard of that does it work good?

[sculptur]

to dry a snake skin out i usually use the laundry detergent "borax"

[eyepodd]

before you let the skin shrink you could clean it and wrap it around a knife handle, and let it shrink you could probubly sew it togeather and let it shrink and dry out there. im not shure how good of a grip it would give you but it would look cool. 

[Don,t try this at home]

You should wrap the sheath with the skin

[hyper]

what do i do if i want to keep the skin out and so i can show it to people, do i let it dry out( i dont want to keep it in the freezer ) please help :D Also this is a great instructable :]

[Wario]

put about a half a inch of salt on it and let it set for a day. then scrape off and repeat until dry.

[warren 109]

Also make sure that you strech the skin out with tacks or it will shrink on you

[Stockvillain]

You can also fry up the skin and eat it, too. Just make sure to wash it and check it for ticks. Yep, snakes can get ticks, too, and they aren't tasty.

[shadowg]

if you find more snake skin make a belt

[UflipURmom]

omg what happend to your left middle finger?!?! that looks nasty

[canida]

Probably just stray snake guts- which picture are you looking at?

[UflipURmom]

step 7 your left middle finger

[canida]

o.O You can't see my middle fingers in step 7. Maybe you mean the first pic in step 8? That's actually a bit of the rolled snake skin. The end of it does look pretty creepy... check out the next pic to see that it's definitely rolled snake skin and not a deep gash.