- Joined
- Jul 22, 2012
- Messages
- 752
So Im going to try and make it a habit of mine to post something useful every 100 post ( at least ). So, since Im behind the curve already, Ill write this one out myself and use my personal experience in the matter.
**So youve killed a snake and you want to keep the skin and actually use it. First off, DO NOT use any sort of salt water or battery acid solution ( or anything to do with anti-freeze ), these methods are ONLY good for destroying the skin. The method I use leaves the skin feeling real to the touch and its flexible just like the real thing.
**In this How-To, Ill go over the process of tanning a snake skin as well as how to process and skin a already dead snake ( Yes, do please make sure your snake is dead before proceeding. And please only process snakes that you have killed yourself or you know FOR FACT have died recently by non natural means ( do not process snakes that have died non natural mean, think clean, only handle snakes you are 100% sure of its well being )). Please remember health and safety hazards, no licking your fingers after handling a snake. If you feel the need, wear gloves when handling snakes. If the snake is venomous, REMOVE THE HEAD AND EITHER BURY IT OR BURN IT IMMEDIATELY!!! I can not stress this enough. Even after death, a snakes venom can and will cause harp to whom or what ever it come in contact with. If you are not sure if the snake is venomous, there are plenty of sites out there that have that information on it, so go and use your wonderful Google abilities. If your snake is not venomous, you are fine with just disposing of the head in any way you see fit. See pictures at the bottom of this post for visual details.
**Picture apologies:I will update later in the week on the of the process of tanning the skin.
**Before you start: As I said before, confirm if your snake is venomous, or just play it safe by burning or burying the head as soon as possible. Once your snake is headless, drop it in a bucket and let it set for about an hour or until it stops moving. A non moving snake is much easier to skin. Once you are ready to start skinning your snake, give it a good rinsing to remove any debris.
**Skinning: There are 2 ways to skin a snake ( I think anyways ), you can either invert the skin like a sock, or you can cut down the belly and peal off the skin that way. Both ways are fine, it just depends on what you have planned for the finished product. I do not advise inverting a snake skin that is less than 2 foot in length. I say this because younger snakes have more delicate skins and they can tear more easily under the strain of skinning.
**Skinning method 1: For inverting the skin, start at the former location of the head. Using your fingers, work the skin off of the meaty part of the snake. Start at the belly where the skin is easier to remove ( the skin around the spine is harder to peal away ). Take your time and work about the first 4 to 6 inches of skin loose. Pull the skin over itself, then grab the meaty part of the snake with one hand and pull the skin down with the other. Continue pulling until you get close to the end of the snake. Cut off just before the vent of the snake and dispose of the tail ( yes, snakes have tails ). Proceed to pull the skin complete off now.
**Skinning method 2: If you are going to cut the belly of the snake ( I recommend this method, you can do more with the skin this way ), use scissors instead of a knife. I have used a knife several times but you can never keep it centered on the crawlers ( the belly scales ). So use scissors and start at the former location of the head. Start cutting and keep it centered. Just before you get to the vent, cut off the tail and then finish cutting. Go back up to where you started cutting and begin pealing off the skin. You may peal some meat off the skin, this is ok because you will scrape it off later.
**Prepping: Snake meat is 100% ok to eat, so you can either have yourself some snake steaks or make your pet a nice meal ( NOTE: Nether myself or the people of BladeForums.com can be held responsible for any adverse reaction from you or your pet in direct relation to partaking of snake meat. ).
**Once the skin is removed, you will need to scrape it. Scraping the skin removes a thin film of muscular tissue that prevents the tanning solution from soaking through. This is the step that most people either skip or dont do a good job at. Not removing this tissue layer will have adverse affects in the tanning process and the final product. So take the time and do it right.
**Begin by laying the skin on a tables edge or the edge or anything. Use a knife and just scrape off the tissue layer. It should be a clear or milky and very slick film. It will be a pain at first, but take your time and try not to cut the skin. And you should be scraping, not cutting, the knife should be 90 degrees to the skin. Remove as much tissue as possible. Once that is done, wash rinse the skin in water ( not hot water and no chemicals in the water ).
**Tanning: The tanning solution you will be making is a mixture of denatured alcohol and vegetable grade glycerin. No not nitro glycerin, this glycerin is a skin moisturizing product. And its denatured alcohol, not regular rubbing alcohol. Non denatured alcohol leaves a residue behind that is not desired and is harmful during the tanning process. Both these ingredients can be found in drug or health food stores. The solution is a 1 to1 mix ratio. I used 1 cup to 1 cup mixture for tanning a 4 foot skin and it worked just fine. When dealing with any sort or tannin solution, DO NOT USE METTALIC OBJECTS. Use a glass jar with a lid to hold your solution.
**After your skin is rinsed, pat it dry and loosely coil it ( scale side in ) and place it in the solution. Its not to important, but try to stir the solution at least 2 times a day .Let it set in a cool dark environment ( anywhere besides the direct sun and somewhere indoors ) for 48 hours. It can stay in longer ( say you forget about it and you leave for work ), just dont let it set to long.
**Remove the skin from the solution and rinse in water ( I recommend gloves for this part ). Then you will need to stretch the skin out and let it dry. I recommend lying the skin on board and using a LOT of clamps to hold it. You can use nails/tacks, but the least amount of holes the better. Lay the skin scale side down. Once one side is secure, stretch the skin slightly, or until all the wrinkles are out. Even then, you can stretch the skin slightly more. Once the skin is properly secured, coat the exposed side with a thick layer of glycerin and let it set for 24 hours. If possible, check up on the skin, and if there are any dry spots, add more glycerin. After the allotted time is up, wipe off the remaining glycerin and remove the skin and let it air dry and relax for an hour or so.
**After that, youre done; the skin is ready for anything. You can try to remove all the scales, but in time they will all fall off. The skin is soft and malleable enough that you can sew it onto things. I recommend leaving the crawler scales on if you are doing to sew it onto things; they provide good attachment / anchor points. I took and had mine sewn onto a hat band and its held all this time. The skin will shrink and expand slightly in relation to the humidity, but its nothing problematic. If it appears to dry, all you need to do is apply some glycerin to re-moisturize it.
**I hope this helps in your tanning adventures. I have searched long and hard for a tanning solution for snake skins that didnt leave the skin dry and stiff, and this method has served my well so far. Let me know of you have any question with anything regarding the process.
**Storage: In case you dont have the materials on hand to tan a snake skin immediately, you can store it 6-12 months if need be ( I've had one in storage that long and it came ok kinda sup bar, but it still was useful ). If you kill a snake and you can take care if it immediately, just keep it out of the direct sun until you can get it processed properly....say in a cooler or in a bucked out of the sun.
**Again, if you dont have the materials on hand to tan the skin immediately, thats not a problem. you'll want to clean and scrape the skin and give it a good rinsing and drying. After that, coil the skin ( scale side out ) around a wooden or plastic rod ( NOTHING METALLIC ). Then place it into a plastic bad and get as much of the air out of it as possible. I recommend a good freezer baggy. Then just put it in the freezer, the skin will not be harmed much ( if it was cleaned and scraped properly it will be mostly OK ). While the freezer will buy you time, the longer it stays in there the more freeze damage its causing to the cells of the skin. So if you killed the snake and cant get the tanning materials say for a week or two, it will be fine in the freezer...JUST DONT FORGET ABOUT IT.
Garden snake I had in my bard threatening my chickens and eggs.
Cutting down the belly with scissors.
Cutting off just before the vent.
Separating skin from meat starting at the former location of the head.
Pulling skin off.
Separated.
Snake anatomy.
Skin scraping.
**So youve killed a snake and you want to keep the skin and actually use it. First off, DO NOT use any sort of salt water or battery acid solution ( or anything to do with anti-freeze ), these methods are ONLY good for destroying the skin. The method I use leaves the skin feeling real to the touch and its flexible just like the real thing.
**In this How-To, Ill go over the process of tanning a snake skin as well as how to process and skin a already dead snake ( Yes, do please make sure your snake is dead before proceeding. And please only process snakes that you have killed yourself or you know FOR FACT have died recently by non natural means ( do not process snakes that have died non natural mean, think clean, only handle snakes you are 100% sure of its well being )). Please remember health and safety hazards, no licking your fingers after handling a snake. If you feel the need, wear gloves when handling snakes. If the snake is venomous, REMOVE THE HEAD AND EITHER BURY IT OR BURN IT IMMEDIATELY!!! I can not stress this enough. Even after death, a snakes venom can and will cause harp to whom or what ever it come in contact with. If you are not sure if the snake is venomous, there are plenty of sites out there that have that information on it, so go and use your wonderful Google abilities. If your snake is not venomous, you are fine with just disposing of the head in any way you see fit. See pictures at the bottom of this post for visual details.
**Picture apologies:I will update later in the week on the of the process of tanning the skin.
**Before you start: As I said before, confirm if your snake is venomous, or just play it safe by burning or burying the head as soon as possible. Once your snake is headless, drop it in a bucket and let it set for about an hour or until it stops moving. A non moving snake is much easier to skin. Once you are ready to start skinning your snake, give it a good rinsing to remove any debris.
**Skinning: There are 2 ways to skin a snake ( I think anyways ), you can either invert the skin like a sock, or you can cut down the belly and peal off the skin that way. Both ways are fine, it just depends on what you have planned for the finished product. I do not advise inverting a snake skin that is less than 2 foot in length. I say this because younger snakes have more delicate skins and they can tear more easily under the strain of skinning.
**Skinning method 1: For inverting the skin, start at the former location of the head. Using your fingers, work the skin off of the meaty part of the snake. Start at the belly where the skin is easier to remove ( the skin around the spine is harder to peal away ). Take your time and work about the first 4 to 6 inches of skin loose. Pull the skin over itself, then grab the meaty part of the snake with one hand and pull the skin down with the other. Continue pulling until you get close to the end of the snake. Cut off just before the vent of the snake and dispose of the tail ( yes, snakes have tails ). Proceed to pull the skin complete off now.
**Skinning method 2: If you are going to cut the belly of the snake ( I recommend this method, you can do more with the skin this way ), use scissors instead of a knife. I have used a knife several times but you can never keep it centered on the crawlers ( the belly scales ). So use scissors and start at the former location of the head. Start cutting and keep it centered. Just before you get to the vent, cut off the tail and then finish cutting. Go back up to where you started cutting and begin pealing off the skin. You may peal some meat off the skin, this is ok because you will scrape it off later.
**Prepping: Snake meat is 100% ok to eat, so you can either have yourself some snake steaks or make your pet a nice meal ( NOTE: Nether myself or the people of BladeForums.com can be held responsible for any adverse reaction from you or your pet in direct relation to partaking of snake meat. ).
**Once the skin is removed, you will need to scrape it. Scraping the skin removes a thin film of muscular tissue that prevents the tanning solution from soaking through. This is the step that most people either skip or dont do a good job at. Not removing this tissue layer will have adverse affects in the tanning process and the final product. So take the time and do it right.
**Begin by laying the skin on a tables edge or the edge or anything. Use a knife and just scrape off the tissue layer. It should be a clear or milky and very slick film. It will be a pain at first, but take your time and try not to cut the skin. And you should be scraping, not cutting, the knife should be 90 degrees to the skin. Remove as much tissue as possible. Once that is done, wash rinse the skin in water ( not hot water and no chemicals in the water ).
**Tanning: The tanning solution you will be making is a mixture of denatured alcohol and vegetable grade glycerin. No not nitro glycerin, this glycerin is a skin moisturizing product. And its denatured alcohol, not regular rubbing alcohol. Non denatured alcohol leaves a residue behind that is not desired and is harmful during the tanning process. Both these ingredients can be found in drug or health food stores. The solution is a 1 to1 mix ratio. I used 1 cup to 1 cup mixture for tanning a 4 foot skin and it worked just fine. When dealing with any sort or tannin solution, DO NOT USE METTALIC OBJECTS. Use a glass jar with a lid to hold your solution.
**After your skin is rinsed, pat it dry and loosely coil it ( scale side in ) and place it in the solution. Its not to important, but try to stir the solution at least 2 times a day .Let it set in a cool dark environment ( anywhere besides the direct sun and somewhere indoors ) for 48 hours. It can stay in longer ( say you forget about it and you leave for work ), just dont let it set to long.
**Remove the skin from the solution and rinse in water ( I recommend gloves for this part ). Then you will need to stretch the skin out and let it dry. I recommend lying the skin on board and using a LOT of clamps to hold it. You can use nails/tacks, but the least amount of holes the better. Lay the skin scale side down. Once one side is secure, stretch the skin slightly, or until all the wrinkles are out. Even then, you can stretch the skin slightly more. Once the skin is properly secured, coat the exposed side with a thick layer of glycerin and let it set for 24 hours. If possible, check up on the skin, and if there are any dry spots, add more glycerin. After the allotted time is up, wipe off the remaining glycerin and remove the skin and let it air dry and relax for an hour or so.
**After that, youre done; the skin is ready for anything. You can try to remove all the scales, but in time they will all fall off. The skin is soft and malleable enough that you can sew it onto things. I recommend leaving the crawler scales on if you are doing to sew it onto things; they provide good attachment / anchor points. I took and had mine sewn onto a hat band and its held all this time. The skin will shrink and expand slightly in relation to the humidity, but its nothing problematic. If it appears to dry, all you need to do is apply some glycerin to re-moisturize it.
**I hope this helps in your tanning adventures. I have searched long and hard for a tanning solution for snake skins that didnt leave the skin dry and stiff, and this method has served my well so far. Let me know of you have any question with anything regarding the process.
**Storage: In case you dont have the materials on hand to tan a snake skin immediately, you can store it 6-12 months if need be ( I've had one in storage that long and it came ok kinda sup bar, but it still was useful ). If you kill a snake and you can take care if it immediately, just keep it out of the direct sun until you can get it processed properly....say in a cooler or in a bucked out of the sun.
**Again, if you dont have the materials on hand to tan the skin immediately, thats not a problem. you'll want to clean and scrape the skin and give it a good rinsing and drying. After that, coil the skin ( scale side out ) around a wooden or plastic rod ( NOTHING METALLIC ). Then place it into a plastic bad and get as much of the air out of it as possible. I recommend a good freezer baggy. Then just put it in the freezer, the skin will not be harmed much ( if it was cleaned and scraped properly it will be mostly OK ). While the freezer will buy you time, the longer it stays in there the more freeze damage its causing to the cells of the skin. So if you killed the snake and cant get the tanning materials say for a week or two, it will be fine in the freezer...JUST DONT FORGET ABOUT IT.
Garden snake I had in my bard threatening my chickens and eggs.
Cutting down the belly with scissors.
Cutting off just before the vent.
Separating skin from meat starting at the former location of the head.
Pulling skin off.
Separated.
Snake anatomy.
Skin scraping.
Last edited:
