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Preserving a snake after death
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by ianb on January 2, 2013
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I hope this doesn't sound bad, but I have a beautiful Gaboon viper that is about to turn 15. She is one of the most attractive ones I've ever seen. I've already had a painting done of her. Anyway, although she seems perfectly healthy, she's not going to live forever. I'm interested in preserving her skin, her head, and perhaps her skeleton. I ran into Dean at the Wilmington, NC Serpetarium and saw what he had done to some of his snake skeletons on display and they looked beautiful. Unfortunately, the person who did those is retired he said. Does anyone have tips on how to properly preserve the head, skin or bones? I do not want to have her stuffed. Instead, I'm wanting to have something a little more artistic done.
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RE: Preserving a snake after death
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by jay72 on January 4, 2013
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You could skin the snake out and send the head to a place like skulls unlimited and they could prepare the skull for you. You could also find a taxidermist who does skeletal work.
If you want to preserve the skin, just order a snake tanning kit from any taxidermy supply company.
I skin out all my deceased snakes. You will have to skin, flesh and tan the hide. If you want to use the hide for leather or any craft to be pliable you will have to oil it and descale the hide(descaling is just removing the clear top of the scales). If you are using the skin for a mount descaling is not necessary. You may just want to seal the skin so the scale covering wont eventually dry and flake off.
When skinning the head area just be carful and take your time to avoid any tears to the hide.
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RE: Preserving a snake after death
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by ianb on January 4, 2013
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Thanks Jay, I was thinking the same thing for the skin. I will say when I was younger, someone bought me a crotolus atrox skin that still had the head on it. It must have been dried out some how. What would happen if you treated the skin on the head like the rest but allowed it to dry out without removing the head somehow?
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RE: Preserving a snake after death
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by jay72 on January 4, 2013
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When the heads are left on, the snake and head is usually skinned out and tanned and a mannequin head or a mold is taken from the head that is covered by the snakes natural skin. They can be either open or closed mouth with mouth inserts that are used. These can be purchased at any taxidermy supply company. Some good taxidermists custom make there own mouth inserts for the snakes.
Freeze drying is another way to preserve the head, but in my opinion it just looks horribly mummified.
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RE: Preserving a snake after death
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by jay72 on January 4, 2013
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If you left the head on to dry out treated or not, the tan would not penetrate the whole head and it would decompose and disfigure. That is why fleshing is important. Your best bet if you want to preserve a great specimens head would be to have a good reptile taxidermist take a mold of the snakes head and cover that with the snakes tanned skin.
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